Open, Says Me
by akamai
Summary: When Raven is stuck “babysitting” Beast Boy while the other Titans go to the movies, she reads him a book for part of the night…and for many weeks to come. Over time, the story becomes strangely familiar to both of the Titans. [BBxRae.RobxStar]
1. Greater

**Summary:** As the other Titans plan to go out to the movies, Raven decides that she would use this time to finish her book and therefore stays at the tower. However, due to recent disastrous incidents with Beast Boy, Robin orders him to stay home for the night and asks Raven to watch him while she's at it. Since Raven is stuck "babysitting" Beast Boy, to keep him quiet (and to keep herself at peace), she ends up reading to him for part of the night…and unintentionally for many weeks to come.

Meanwhile, Starfire decides to take English classes to improve her English. From her experience, the classes are 'wonderful' and 'glorious' and she describes to her friends about the trips the students get to take trips around the city. The classes end up taking up most of her time, and they cut into team training sessions that become necessary. Also her desire to learn more English is similar to a desire of Robin's...

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Teen Titans, and this goes for all of the chapters in this fanfiction! Now let's get this started.

**Open, Says Me (K+)**

**Chapter One: Greater**

Moderate was the team. He would have liked them to be exceptional, remarkable or even to be dubbed as the _Jump City Times_ favorite headline, "Phenomenal", but he knew they were not. He needed his team to work harder, and he needed _some way_ to make them do so.

Late as it was, Robin still had the motivation to sit upright at his room desk. He rested his chin in his hands while his close friend and second and command of the team, Cyborg, stood groggily over him and waited for him to speak. Cyborg knew that when Robin was usually in great thought he always sat in this particular position, and he and the other Titans had identified it as his way of musing. Each of them had witnessed the Titan leader this way, and most of the time he unveiled good news. This time around however, his thoughts were negative.

"You wanted to speak to me?" Cyborg asked, like an employee speaking to his boss. He even stood tensely, but the reason for that wasn't because of what Robin was about to say, it was because he was extremely tired.

Robin removed his hands from his chin, and looked at his friend from the corner of his eye. He didn't want to be the barer of bad news or let Cyborg go to sleep on a bad note, but he had to tell someone what he was thinking for a long time. He had to get it off of his chest, and the best person to consult with naturally had to be the second in command of the team.

Robin began, "This may not what you want to hear, but after we defeated the Brotherhood of Evil, the team seems to be…slacking off a bit."

Cyborg raised his eyebrow; this woke him up a little. "Oh really? Well, it's been quiet with most of the villains gone."

"Yes, but there are some still out there…look, you may disagree with me, but it seems as if the team feels that they can do anything already, and I don't think a team should think that way. I don't mean I don't want them to be positive, I'm just saying that a team should always push to be greater." Robin ended his sentence with punching a fist into his free hand, as if he were a motivational speaker.

Cyborg ran the training session schedules through his head and pondered on how on earth the team could improve their efforts. He hadn't noticed the 'slacking off', but apparently only a leader had eyes for these types of problems.

"The last few days have seemed like a disaster," Robin continued. "Training sessions aren't even consistent anymore…and oh, here's an example—Beast Boy hasn't even spent an hour in the gym since we've been back." He slightly scowled at the thought of Beast Boy's performance at training the day before. It wasn't as though he was angry that Beast Boy was proud that he saved the day from the Brotherhood of Evil, it was just that the youngest Titan seemed to be the one deciding to slack off the most. Robin grimly recalled Beast Boy's persistent questions regarding why they were training.

_"Training," the changeling had said, in opposition to the very idea. "But Robin, we defeated the Brotherhood of Evil and all of the other villains! Isn't that good enough for you? Aren't we already our best?"_

Cyborg immediately knew what Robin was talking about. Sure Beast Boy had gotten a tad bit mature in the past few weeks, but he was no less lazy than before.

"Well, you could always motivate them," Cyborg suggested with the wave of his hand, "…give them what they want, so they'll train better."

_To get what you think is best, give them what they want_, Robin thought to himself after Cyborg's comment. What did the team like to do? This was difficult because everyone in the team was different. While Beast Boy and Cyborg would want to play video games all day, Raven would mediate or read. Starfire would probably hang out with Silkie, cook some weird meal…

_...or hang out with him?_ A part of his mind asked. He wasn't sure if it was Starfire's favorite thing to do, but he slightly hoped it was. Sure they were close, but it would mean a lot to him if the alien admitted that she liked hanging out with him. He gave a small smile at the possible experience.

Cyborg yawned loudly and Robin's face became stern again. He slowly traced back to his previous thoughts, before Starfire.

So, he needed something the whole team would want to do. An outing night was his first idea. He knew his friends liked movies, and going out to see them, so that was a likely possibility to do on their first night. There was the conflict of everyone wanting to see something different, but he had heard that a great movie that had just been released. It had comedy, romance, action, and more – according to Cyborg.

"How about the movies?" Robin asked, "We could have something to do at the end of the day, for whoever trains well. Let them go to the movies if they train hard tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, sure," Cyborg mumbled. He was half asleep.

So that was it. They would go see a movie...if they were willing to train their best first of course.

oOo

After telling the others about his plan, Robin regretted spilling the beans before the training session had even started. Some seemed to jump to conclusions.

"All right, we're gonna see a movie!" Beast Boy was the first to cry. He gave a high-five to Cyborg who gave a small nervous chuckle.

"I said if you all work hard today, we're going to see a movie," Robin corrected him. "And remember that…all of you."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Well," Robin said, while looking at the team around him. "Let's get to work."

Naturally, Cyborg and Raven obediently followed the orders, just to get it over with.

Both of their perspective was, 'two hours in the gym? No problem!'

Starfire started out by following Robin to opposite side of the room as Robin suggested a few things she could do.

"You could lift some weights," he suggested, "That won't wear you down for sure."

Starfire beamed at him. "That is sounding like a wonderful idea!" She lifted the weights up easily, repeatedly.

The training session _almost_ seemed...fun to Starfire, but she had to admit that it was taking up most of the morning. She didn't want to discourage Robin by telling him that his idea was taking up too much time, because she wanted to encourage him as he did to her. Starfire smiled to herself at Robin's enthusiasm about his and Cyborg's idea. It was wonderful to see him so motivated to make a better team out of his friends. Robin had mentioned that he would be watching the team work out for effort after he had done some of his own training, and at the thought of that she quickly turned around.

He seemed to be already watching her.

_How long had he been standing there?_

"Robin..." she started. She hoped he had not seen her smiling to herself absentmindedly. "Are you currently assessing my performance? I am hoping that I have done well."

"Well, you did great, Star," he said and slightly grinned. His smile came from the fact that she wasn't even covered in sweat, and after so much training she still looked beautiful. She looked _perfect._

Of course, Robin didn't say so.

After quietly staring at each other, Robin said that he was going to the other side of the room to see how the others were doing, and Starfire watched him leave while blushing shyly. She wished he could stay longer. And that smile made her wish she knew what he was thinking.

Raven and Cyborg were doing exceptionally well with their training, and they even spared with each other while Robin watched. Easily, he could see they did their best. He knew the "work hard and go see a movie plan" would be successful.

He went to search for Beast Boy next, and he found the changeling cheering on Starfire, who was doing the indoor obstacle course.

Robin raised an eyebrow under his mask at the scene. "Beast Boy," he sternly said, "You need to be training. What are you doing over here?"

"I already did," Beast Boy told him while grinning. "Like you…why do we have to train for an hour and a half again? We beat all the baddies."

It was this conversation again. "That doesn't mean anything," Robin told him as Cyborg shouted, "Training time's up!"

Without hesitation, Beast Boy eagerly ran out of the gym and Robin turned from him to face Starfire. A look of apprehensiveness was on his face and Starfire knew why. She had heard Robin and Beast Boy's conversation and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Robin, perhaps you should not be hard on him...or all of us. He may have not done well in the training today, but he shall still accompany us all to the movie."

"If I did, he'd think he could slack off all of the time. It's for the best." He turned towards the exit to the gym and continued, "I'm sorry Star, but tonight he's staying home. Maybe tomorrow he'll do better."

"Maybe." Starfire observed Robin's face, and she could tell that he didn't seem too happy about the decision. It surprised her, because part of her felt and regretted that he was just promising trips at the end of the day so they would work hard. It seemed as if he actually wanted the whole team watching the movie at this moment. As Robin waved to her goodbye, Starfire wondered if he would have the same punishment for her if she slacked off – for the best.

* * *

**A/N: **...and that's chapter one! If you liked this so far or even read it, please review! I worked really hard on this story and I want to share it with others. Yes, I know it was all Robin and Starfire fluff in this chapter, because they're a ship in this story as well. The Beast Boy and Raven fluff won't come for a while, because I'm actually going to build it up! -gasp-(and because they are the main story)!

Chapter Two Preview: Night comes, and Raven accidentally ends up stuck home with Beast Boy. Will it be for the better or worst? Will the night even be worth it?


	2. Incarcerated

**A/N:** Thanks for reading and reviewing my story, **Agent of the Divine One** and **Digital 98**! I really appreciated it. D

**Chapter Two: Incarcerated**

As for the going out for the movies idea, yeah, Raven hated it. Despised it, loathed it; just flat out hated it. She didn't hate Robin and Cyborg, it was just...their plan. Time and time again she had mentioned that she did not like going to the movies. Didn't they already know that?

Raven knew she could have slacked off during the training session, but there seemed to be nothing more degrading than being seen as a lazy bum. She needed to practice at all times, as her powers were complicated anyway.

It didn't take long for her to ponder on ways for Robin to let her stay home. Although faking sick was her first choice, she decided that should would not because it was just a stupid and wimpy idea. Just telling him that she wanted to stay home would work; especially if she promised to train harder if he let her stay home. Lately it seemed that Robin would do anything to make the team work harder.

So that night when the team got ready to leave for the movies, that's exactly what she did.

Raven ended up being the last Titan to arrive to the common room to get ready to leave. There stood a ready Starfire, Cyborg, and Robin; all occupied with last minute duties, along with a gloomy for some strange reason, Beast Boy. This, Raven shrugged off.

Robin stood by Starfire while insisting that she wear a jacket. She shook her head politely that she didn't need one, and Robin would still persist. This was a conversation they had much too often, and Raven knew Robin knew that Starfire didn't need a jacket. She was sure that Robin just liked talking to her.

Raven walked towards them, and since she was already tired of the two's polite conversation, she cut in by tapping Robin on the shoulder.

Robin spun around alertly. "We were wondering where you were," he told her. He glanced at Starfire who went to join Cyborg at the T-Car and then back at Raven. "So, you ready to go?"

"About that…do we really have to go?"

A confused expression took place on Robin's face. "Well, yeah...you did train really well today."

"I know," Raven flatly said, "But I'd rather not go to the movies."

Robin's expression lacked comprehension even more at this point. "Why not?"

"She hates the movies," Beast Boy muttered from a corner of the room. A slight sound of anger was in his voice, and he didn't look at either of the conversing Titans.

"You really want to stay home?" Robin asked, with concern. That would just leave him, Starfire, and Cyborg going out to the movies. If Cyborg left somehow, that'd just leave him and Starfire, which was something he was not ready for yet.

"I already said that. Look, if you just let me stay home I'll train harder. I promise," Raven told him. She was losing much patience. Couldn't they just leave already?

"All right Raven…and while you're at it, I guess you can watch Beast Boy too." He muttered this last part, and Raven had to lean forward to hear him. "I don't know if you knew this, but he has to stay home tonight."

He pulled on his own multicolored jacket and went to the exit, where Cyborg was heard honking his horn. "I'm sorry if you don't want to, but since you're staying home it'd be good if you could do that." He first waved, and then left.

"I don't think so. I've got things to do," Raven muttered.

As soon as Robin walked out, Beast Boy frowned at part of the Titan leader's departing words. "_Watch Beast Boy_? Dude, I'm a teenager too! I don't need a babysitter! First he doesn't let me go to the movies, and now he treats me like a little kid."

Raven gave a disgusted sigh. "Well, I don't blame him for not letting you go. You _were_ pretty lazy today. And don't say you don't need a babysitter...you define immaturity." Feeling that all she needed to say was said, she walked out of the room curtly.

Beast Boy growled. He actually thought he was cool with both Robin and Raven for a while, and suddenly both treated him like they did when they first met. It was like the fight with the Brotherhood of Evil never happened.

Beast Boy began to pace around the room. He was having so much of a bad day that he didn't even want to play video games. Cyborg wasn't even there anyway, and Raven probably went and locked herself in her room.

The changeling plopped on the couch and stared angrily into space. "See if I care..." he mumbled, along with many other incoherent things.

oOo

After lying down on her bed, Raven flipped her nearly finished novel back open. The lights in her room were dim enough for her eyes to adjust to, and for her to be able to see the story. With Robin's new training schedule, she hadn't even gotten to see her book all day because along with training she had to meditate. _And speaking of Robin,_ she thought. He must have been crazy to ask her to watch Beast Boy. It wasn't long after her friends had gone to the movies when she began to think she should have just gone with them.

The writing in the book was so small, that she had to squint to see the words. It was awful because the words were familiar to her, as she had read over the story time and time again. She tried to concentrate for a short moment, and stopped doing so when she heard a tapping sound. It was a soft one, but it was easily 'a five on the annoyance scale'. Then it became a seven…then a nine...

Soon she was off of her bed and facing the door of her room. Raven pushed the button on her door to let her out stormed to the common room where Beast Boy still was. Sure enough, he was the cause of the tapping sound, which echoed off of the walls around him.

"Hey," she said while gripping her book in her hand, "Stop that."

"So you _are_ watching me," Beast Boy said while frowning, but with a hint of defiance in his voice. He did stop the annoyance, and faced the girl right after. He was surprised that she had actually left her room to tell him to be quiet.

"No, I'm trying to do something. I cannot concentrate with you making all of that noise," Raven said.

"I have nothing to do," Beast Boy told her, defensively. "If Robin just had let me go to the movies, then you wouldn't have to deal with me."

"That…or I could have gone," Raven coldly said. "Why don't you go play some video games? Isn't that what you always do?" The video games were loud as well, but Raven was used to the sound of it.

"Cy's not here and I usually play against him. One player mode's not that great."

"Then go read a book," Raven said, "Just stop making that noise. It's giving me a headache."

"What are you doing?" Beast Boy asked. He had now stood up, and was walking towards her.

"Looking at a book."

"Can I see it?"

"No."

"But I'm bored."

"Would you stop talking if I do?" Raven asked. She rubbed her temples at the sound of his voice. _Why didn't I go to the movies with the others?_

Beast Boy reached for the book and Raven moved back. "You don't need to touch it."

"Well...what does it say inside?" He curiously looked at the novel. It had no title, or author, or even a picture on the front. In Beast Boy's eyes, every book had those things…at least the ones he had seen Raven reading. This piqued his curiosity even more. "Well?"

Raven said nothing.

"Look, all I'm trying to do is make some conversation ok?"

Raven frowned. _No kidding._ He always tried to make conversation with her. She motioned for him to follow her and she sat on the couch. "Ok then…how about I read to you what's inside? And then you don't touch the book, or touch me, and you don't talk. At all."

Beast Boy nodded. "Ok."

Raven opened to the first page as Beast Boy plopped next to her. She grimaced since he smelled like rotten tofu and soda mixed together. She almost moved over on the sofa but halted when Beast Boy asked, "Are you going to get started or what?"

And so Raven started. "When her mother asked her how she felt about the young man who lived next door, Darcy was sure she hated him more than anything. She never actually told her mother that, or her neighbor himself, because he'd probably whine over it. Those were not the only reasons however. Although her neighbor was highly annoying and immature for his age, he became useful at times. Darcy recalled one time when he put salt in her pudding –"

Beast Boy was asleep by the time Darcy slapped the boy.

Raven continued on with the story herself.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope the characters in this chapter were well…in character. I was trying to make this chapter show how opposite Raven and Beast Boy are, and get on with the story. Yes, I know the book Raven is reading seems kind of childish. XD Please review if you have read this. Thanks!


	3. Improvement

**A/N: **Wow, so much more reviews this time! Thanks everyone! Now just to clear something up…the book Raven is reading is not a book in real life. It's just something I made up for this fanfic (although when Beast Boy mentions the plot way in chapter eleven, you'll all find out it isn't really that original XD). It may be that way, but the story still ends up special to Beast Boy and Raven. –cough- But before I give something away, moving on…

**Chapter Three: Improvement**

It seemed like moments later when Beast Boy woke up on the couch and rubbed his eyes from a good sleep. He couldn't tell what time it was, but it was still dark outside so he assumed that was still very early in the morning.

He quickly noticed that Raven was long gone since the place where she sat was cold, and the other Titans were probably back by that time.

Beast Boy sat up and tried to remember what happened before he fell asleep. He recalled being extremely bored and Raven chastising him for the distractions he made. Then she decided to sit down next to him and read to him a story...about some girl who hated her next door neighbor. It was pretty boring from what he had heard, and that was why he probably fell asleep.

He looked at the time on the wall, and it was five o' clock in the morning. It took Beast Boy a while to register that that was when Robin usually called the team to wake up to train. This made Beast Boy suddenly scramble off of the couch and into the gym.

Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire were not there yet, but Robin was there sure enough. He was alone and already training. The younger male Titan watched him butcher the punching bag in front of him for moments time after time, until Robin spoke. Apparently, he had noticed the other Titan there the whole time.

"You're here early," he told Beast Boy, while not turning around. He cracked his knuckles, and began punching the bag again.

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah...I kind of wanted to get here early today...you know...so I could go to the movies this time."

Robin didn't say anything, but stopped punching the bag. He thought for a moment, and he finally did speak, "That's a good start, by actually waking up early."

"It wasn't easy," Beast Boy chortled, "The couch is kind of hard to sleep on."

Robin forced a smile.

The Titan leader walked over to the weights and started lifting some. He started with the small ones and worked up to the larger ones in a row. "Are you going to get started training or what?"

Beast Boy started at the punching bag where Robin previously was. They worked in silence for the next few moments, each in their own thoughts.

Robin was pleased that Beast Boy had gotten to the gym early, but not pleased that it was because he couldn't sleep on the couch well. Also, Raven had seemed at tad bit agitated from having to "baby-sit" Beast Boy, and he didn't want her to go through that again. That morning he decided that he wanted to be on all of the Titans good side anyway—including Beast Boy.

"I've decided that we're not going to the movies tonight," Robin said, and Beast Boy suddenly stopped training.

"What do you mean? I haven't even gotten—"

"I know. While we were gone last night Cyborg and I decided to make the movie trips—or any other activity for that matter—to happen on Friday nights. That means each of us has to work hard all week to earn the reward of going out."

"All week?" Beast Boy asked. He was not going to whine, not in front of Robin, so he replied with, "I can do that."

"Good. Besides, it was kind of wrong for me to give you and let you lose one chance like that yesterday."

"Thanks," Beast Boy muttered.

Robin did not reply and Beast Boy took this as the end of their conversation. The other Titans arrived at about six o' clock and the end of their training at eight came quickly; quicker than Beast Boy had expected. The first thing he did was fan out his shirt after a day's hard work. "I seriously need a bath," he said to Cyborg as Cyborg quickly covered his nose at the smell of his friend. "You did great today BB," he said while trying not to breathe.

"Yeah, nice job today Beast Boy," Robin told him while wiping his face with a towel. He patted him on the back, and Beast Boy noticed Starfire give Robin a small smile.

"Let's go play some video games!" Beast Boy suggested to Cyborg, while making Cyborg gag. "What about that bath you were going to take?" Cyborg asked him.

"Oh…yeah…"

"Maybe we'll play some later after," Cyborg laughed. "See ya."

Beast Boy wasted no time by running towards the bathroom to turn on the water in the tub. He ran out of the bathroom to go to his room and get a new change of clothes, with his mind filled with the games that he and Cyborg were going to play. "Get ready to get your big metal butt kicked," Beast Boy said to himself.

His happy thoughts anticipating the games were interrupted when he was almost to his room. Around the outside of Raven's room, he heard her speaking.

Beast Boy couldn't help himself, so he stopped at her door and listened to what she said. She seemed to be saying the same thing over and over again, but in different ways:

_"He opened the door and grinned broadly. 'Anytime Dar...'He pulled open the door and grinned at her, broadly. Their eyes met and he said, 'Anytime Dar.'"_

"Raven?" Beast Boy asked, and shortly after Raven opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned him.

"I heard you talking to yourself...about some guy holding a door."

Raven's impassive expression slightly changed. "What you heard, was about the characters in the book I read last night. You know...the ones you fell asleep on."

"Oh...sorry about that..." he muttered. "Well, it was pretty cool reading with you last night."

"For only two minutes?" Raven asked. "I don't think so. The tub's probably overflowing by the way. That _was_ you who said they were planning to take a bath, right?"

Sure enough, the sound of water splashing on the bathroom floor was heard down the hall. Beast Boy gasped and ran towards the bathroom again to turn the tap off. Raven turned back into her room and clicked her door shut. She _had_ to stop reading out loud.

oOo

Starfire sat at the kitchen table, drowning her cereal in mustard. Robin and Cyborg, who were in the kitchen as well, watched her amazed as she did so, and were in too much awe to say anything.

They should have been accustomed to Starfire's odd behavior, but she always had something strange to do up her sleeve. It wasn't her fault because she was from another planet though, so that was her excuse for them.

When Starfire looked up at the other Titans looking at her strangely, she blinked. "I have done something interesting?"

Cyborg shook his head and put his hands up defensively. "Nah, not at all Star! Er…bacon's ready! I better check on that bacon..."

Starfire looked at Robin for answers.

Without much choice, Robin told her, "Well, Star...I know we're out of milk and all, but most people just don't eat cereal when there's no milk. You don't need to pour mustard all over it..." He stopped speaking as he began to have second thoughts about the possibility of offending her. "Then again, I'm sorry about saying that. You can pour mustard over your cereal if you want to."

"Oh, all right," Starfire quietly said to him. She picked up her spoon and looked at her food, embarrassed.

"Aren't you going to eat, Starfire?" Robin asked, while not paying attention to his own meal.

"I—I have not the hunger anymore," she mumbled.

"You mean, 'I am not hungry anymore,'" Robin told her. He frowned at his own words. He was being very picky this morning, and Starfire seemed to notice as well.

"Yes, that is what I meant," she said while standing up. "I shall commence eating later."

The next thing Starfire knew she was in her room, lying on her bed reading newspapers. She always did that when she tried to learn more about the human culture around her when Robin was not available to help her. But Robin was available today, so why didn't she consult him?

She stopped reading the paper and pushed them aside since the comic jokes did not make sense to her. She began to stare into space, while wishing that she could learn to be more like a human, quickly. It was so embarrassing to practice a Tameranian custom, or say something wrong like she had done just moments before. She was on Earth for a good long time, and she still messed up frequently.

Starfire stared blankly at the ads section of the paper and soon began to read them. There were a few ads offering jobs, and the word 'English' that flashed across the top of the page was what received her attention.

The full title read, _"Miss. Angle's English class for foreigners." _Below there was a description of the class:

_"Lasts Mon.-Fri. from 6:30AM-Noon. Besides leaning more about the English language, students in this class will be able to understand others around them more clearly, and will be able to explore around the city on field trips. This is possible by the students calling the number below and registering for the class. It is completely free as well! Only after a few weeks will they fit in! This extraordinary and helpful class takes place at:_

_2424 Island Street,_

_Jump City, CA. 3388_

_(343)-343-3434_

_Miss Angles loves her students. Surely you will love her as well!"_

Starfire blinked, and picked up the paper. It sounded like a good idea, and Miss Angles sounded very knowledgeable. The only problem was that the class times conflicted with training time.

_If I were to go, I will try to "make up" my training time after classes,_ Starfire thought. She would miss practice with everyone else, but would still be able to train for the day. She didn't know what the others would think of this, but it sounded for the best. And Robin wouldn't mind, as long as she got her training done, right?

Starfire flew out of her room door to the kitchen with the paper, hoping the others—Robin in particular—would approve of her new found desirable hobby. Hopefully he would let her go.

**

* * *

A/N: **Yeah…so as you can probably see, I tried to fit in the Beast Boy and Robin relationship in here. A little strained, but that's the way they are. It'll change though. It may not seem like much happened here, but this is actually the chapter where the "Starfire plot" starts. Sorry if the way Starfire embarrassed herself was lame. Anyway, please review!


	4. Chances

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews everyone! After this chapter I'll start replying to reviews through that reply button in the email. I also noticed that this story recently got its 1000th hit shortly after I posted the previous chapter.

To Coyote: Yes, Miss Angles is a villain. I'm not going to hide the fact that she is because it's _very_ obvious. There are more baddies in this story, but I'm not telling who. And don't try guessing because I'm not going to respond.

**Chapter Four: Chances**

When Starfire arrived back at the kitchen, Robin and Cyborg were still there, but in different positions. They both sat at the table where Starfire and Robin had sat earlier, and Starfire's plate still sat there. Beast Boy was now with them as well, devouring his own breakfast.

The first thing she heard was Robin speaking, and Cyborg and Beast Boy conversing back with him.

"Why can't I just check on her? There's obviously something wrong," the Boy Wonder was saying to the other male Titans.

"She'll be fine, Robin," Cyborg was saying. "I'm sure when you see her she'll prove it to you."

"He is right, Robin," Starfire said while entering, and Robin suddenly looked up at the sound of her voice. He stood up quickly. "Star, are you alright now? We left you your breakfast in case you were still hungry."

"That is alright; I came to show you something." She offered the newspaper she held and handed it to Robin. She pointed to the section she wanted him to read, and Robin took the paper.

To keep Cyborg and Beast Boy from leaning over his shoulder, Robin read the advertisement out loud to them. Before he was even finished reading, he stopped, with concern in his voice. "That's what's wrong isn't it? You don't think you're that good at English."

"Perhaps," she told him, "But I believe the class would be a good idea for me to learn more about earthly ways. I know that it conflicts with your training schedule, but I will try to make it up after school or on the weekends."

"We can make up our training at other times?" Beast Boy asked. "Why hasn't anyone told me this before?"

"You can't," Robin told him, and Starfire looked down. Robin continued, "Starfire, I've been teaching you about Earth all of this time. What's the difference between me and this teacher?"

Starfire shifted her feet. "You would not have time to teach me all of the time and Miss Angles is a professional."

When Robin didn't answer, she added, "Please...I would really like to take this class."

"It would be cool for Star to know some more stuff," Beast Boy said, "I for one, wouldn't want to go to school, but each to their own..."

"Yeah, it'd be cool for Star to understand some of the slang," Cyborg added. "No offense, but it's kind of hard talking to her sometimes…"

Starfire smiled at her two friends who had spoken, and looked at Robin, who opened his mouth.

"About the training thing…if you go I guess you can make it up later. And don't even say anything about that Beast Boy, because I just thought of that rule," he quickly added, before the changeling could open his mouth. "So Starfire…if it makes you this happy, I guess you can go."

Starfire giggled and hugged Robin. "Thank you dear Robin, I really appreciate your decision!" She blushed at her sudden choice of words, but shrugged it off. She was going to be normal in no time.

oOo

The rest of the day was spent with Beast Boy and Cyborg playing video games, Raven in her room, and Starfire discussing the classes with Robin. She seemed very excited to talk about the classes, and clearly showed it.

"So it said that you need to call if you're going to join first, so they can give a list of materials. We'll need to tell what materials we need over the phone," Robin told Starfire. "Can you read me out the number?"

Starfire did so and Robin spoke over the phone as she daydreamed, about what she'd be like after the classes. Robin soon hung up the phone and spoke to Starfire. "The woman on the other line said that you're going to need two books that will be sent to you; Step By Step and Guidance through Another Culture, a school uniform which will also be sent to you, pencils, a signature allowing you to go on field trips—we can ask Cyborg for that—,and…your prepared brain….everyday."

Starfire giggled at the last requirement and Robin gave an awkward smile. "What day does this thing start, anyway?"

"Next Monday," Starfire told him, "Apparently they have been advertising this for a long time! I am lucky to find out about that class, am I not?"

"Sure," Robin told her, although his mind began to drift on other things.

He was glad that Starfire was happy about the situation, but disappointed of the change there could be. No longer would Starfire get confused between the differences of two words and use something in the wrong context. Nor would she have the lack of contractions in her sentences. She just wouldn't be Starfire without those flaws.

"You are alright?" Starfire asked, while staring at him. She had stopped smiling.

"Not really. I was just hoping that this class won't change anything major. It's not much of a big deal…now let's go over the materials again."

Although she did not bother to ask, Starfire wondered about Robin's hope. _What is he talking about? _she thought.

oOo

Raven was reading over another chapter when she heard yelling and screaming outside of her door. Undeniably, it was Cyborg and Beast boy arguing about some video game they were playing. She then heard Cyborg say that he was going to wash his baby, and that he didn't need to argue about who won because he knew he won.

Just when Raven thought the noise was over, she heard banging on her room door. Sure enough, it was Beast Boy. "Raven! Raven can you come out and get Cyborg back here and tell him that I won that game? Raven?"

Raven opened the door. "Yes?" she asked, as if she didn't hear everything he had said.

"I said," Beast Boy got a strange look on his face, and suddenly forgot about the game. "Hey…I haven't seen you all day. What have you been doing in there anyway?"

"Reading," she said. "What I usually do."

"Oh. Well, guess what you missed at breakfast? Starfire wants to take an English class and—" Beast Boy noticed the book in her hand and pointed at it. "You're still reading that book? No offense, but I thought you'd be finished with it by now," he said.

"I was. I'm just reading it again."

"What's so great about this book anyway?" Beast Boy asked. "You know...for you to stay cooped up in your room so much." A thought came to him, and he suddenly froze. "I mean…the last time you locked yourself up like that was when h—he—"

"This has nothing to do with him," Raven quickly said. "He's frozen and gone, along with the other villains."

Beast Boy shrugged "All right, I'll take your word for it…but can I see the book again, since you're so fascinated about it?"

Raven thought about the question. It was nice having company, but him being the company?

_He fell asleep the other day,_ she thought. _Why try showing him the book again?_

But she had to be a little pleased that he was eager to hang out with her even a little, and that he actually gave the book a chance. None of the other Titans had done that.

Raven sighed. "Ok, where do you want to read?"

"Whoa...you're serious! You really are saying yes to me reading that book with you?"

"...sure. Just answer my question."

"We could go to the park," Beast Boy suggested.

Once again, Raven thought about the possibilities of that if she did go to the park with Beast Boy. One problem was that people would think there was something up with them...something that wasn't there was there.

_You wouldn't care if it was Cyborg or Robin with you_, a voice said, and Raven shook her head to make the thoughts go away.

"So you don't want to go to the park," Beast Boy figured out, after witnessing her shaking her head.

"Um...no. Let's just stay in the tower."

"Er...ok. I guess we can go to the common room again," Beast Boy quietly said. His voice rarely sounded that little. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but he felt a tad disappointed. It couldn't have been because Raven didn't want to go to the park with him, was it?

"All right," Raven said. "But five minutes of reading and no less."

Beast Boy gave a small laugh. He wasn't sure if Raven was being serious or not.

They went to the common room and sat on the couch. Raven took no time to start reading and after a couple of minutes, Beast Boy was sure that the five minute thing was a joke of Raven's.

As the two saw it, the passage was about Darcy finally telling her mother about her problem with Lorenzo, and her mother replying by telling her to give Lorenzo a chance. Darcy expresses how she disdained Lorenzo once again since he gave her so much attention all of the time, because she didn't know what to think of it. Later in the chapter Lorenzo cheered Darcy up when she thought that she hadn't made it into some art contest. When they find out that there was a mistake and it was all wrong, both characters didn't know what to think of the small moment they had. By the end of the chapter, they went on with their lives.

"That was a nice read," Beast Boy commented, once the chapter was over. The romance was a little too much for him, but he was ok with it. He actually wasn't sure if the author intended it on being romance or not, but he decided that it was up to the readers.

"Yeah. I liked that chapter too," Raven said. She softly closed the book, and set it between them.

Beast Boy stared at the novel as if Raven put it there, just daring for him to touch it. "So...I guess you're going to stop reading there?" he asked, while stretching.

Before Raven answered him, the alarm sounded, and they Beast Boy jumped.

"I guess so," Raven said to him, as her eyes followed Robin who was running into the room.

* * *

**A/N: **Once again, the book. Doesn't seem like something Raven would read, hmm?

The next chapter is one of my favorites. I don't know why, and many of you might not think it's one of the best once the story is done, but I just like it. –shrugs- Anywho…thanks for the reviews, and please keep on doing so!


	5. Relationships

**A/N: **Ok, I replied to everyone's review and I'm all set! By the way, you all don't need to tell me to update. I don't know if I mentioned this here or not but I'm already done the story (18 chapters), so of course I'll update!

**Chapter Five: Relationships**

The Titans were pumped to get to the scene of the crime. Cyborg and Beast Boy both whooped and cheered at the fact that there was still someone out there to kick butt. Robin narrowed his eyes at the big screen where all of the information about the villain and their crime was located. He was determined to defeat the villain successfully, and he was sure the team's intense training would pay off.

"It's at the bank," he called over Cyborg and Beast Boy's cheering, "A robbery."

"Then let's go—before my sonic cannon gets any dustier!" Cyborg cried. "To the T-Car!" he shouted, which made Beast Boy and Starfire laugh whereas both Robin and Raven flinched.

The young Titans rushed out of the main entrance and hopped into the T-car to ride to the bank. Robin quickly sat in the front with Cyborg, while Starfire sat in the seat behind him. Beast Boy moved in next to Starfire, and once Raven got in he was sandwiched between the two girls. Raven expected him to make some comment about it, but he didn't. He seemed to be concentrating on her, once she looked at him.

"Yes?"

"Hopefully this battle's gonna rock!" he said, "I've been waiting to kick villain butt for ages!"

Raven waited for the other Titans to respond, but they didn't. It was then that she realized that he was _only_ talking to her. She wasn't in the mood to discourage him, as he did truly look excited. She then realized that he was patiently waiting for her to respond, and she said, "I hope it's…worth it too."

However, once the team had gotten to the scene of the crime, they were not happy.

Their so-called villain was just a regular burglar. He had a paper bag mask which was presumably from the grocery store across the street, and wore regular everyday clothing. The money he had stolen was in a plastic bag—also presumably from the grocery store across the street. The Titans weren't even sure if he was taking the robbery seriously, since everyone in the city was aware that a criminal like him usually took thirty seconds to defeat.

The Titans had gotten their answer when the burglar froze. He dropped the money he had confiscated and put his hands up at the sight of the heroes.

"Man, this is just pathetic," Cyborg said, while dialing the police through his arm. "Why couldn't the cops just get this guy themselves?"

"They wished to give us something to do?" Starfire suggested, also discouraged.

"Even if that was the reason, that's still pathetic," Raven pointed out.

"Well, this just proves my point," Beast Boy said, and the other Titans stared at him.

"What do you mean?" Raven asked, speaking what the others had thought.

"I mean, what's the point in training, if we're probably just going to get villains like this guy all of the time now? We're working our butts off in the gym more than we did when there were actual villains in this city!"

Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire all braced themselves for Robin to explode or at least say something. For the most part, Robin didn't seem too bothered, but when the police arrived and the team had stepped out of the bank, it was easily seen that he was bothered.

"I thought you were okay with the training, Beast Boy," he stiffly said. "You do want to go out with the team on Friday nights, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I still don't see the point."

Robin froze and walked towards the changeling. "Look, we've had this conversation time and time again. The villains can break out from Paris anytime, and we've got to be prepared for it. If you don't care so much, then you shouldn't be calling yourself a Titan."

Beast Boy glowered at his last words. "Well, I don't have to be a workaholic to call myself a Titan," he muttered.

Robin clenched his fists but said nothing. Starfire put on hand on both of their shoulders. "Please stop fighting friends, the criminal is gone, and it is over."

"We're having a disagreement, not arguing," Robin said to her, while Raven raised an eyebrow.

He sighed. "Let's get going home."

Cyborg, Raven, and Beast boy hopped into the T-Car. Before Robin got in, Starfire pulled him back. "If you do not mind, I would like for you to accompany me flying home," Starfire said. For some reason Robin already knew that this was code for, 'We need to talk.'

Robin nodded. He poked his head into the driver's window. "Go ahead on home Cyborg, we'll catch up."

Once the other Titans had departed, Starfire reached for Robin's hand and proceeded to fly up. At first she said nothing to him, and Robin wondered what the point was in them flying together if she wasn't going to say anything. Her voice eventually stopped those thoughts.

oOo

"Robin...you are starting to be too hard on Beast Boy again."

Robin's eyes widened beneath his mask. "'Too hard again?' You yourself have heard him ask the same question every time we go training, and now we hear it again here. If you were in my position you would get frustrated too."

Starfire shook her head and responded, "No, not exactly. I believe it was uncalled for to tell him that he should not be calling himself a Titan. Beast Boy is most definitely a Titan, and one of the biggest ones I have the pleasure of knowing. He was a great help in defeating the Brotherhood, and if I remember correctly, you and he defeated them...together."

Robin did not speak.

"I know that you are different, and see things differently, but remember that you are both on the same team. Arguing over little things such as 'disagreements' like training helps no one."

At the end of her last word, Starfire landed on the top of the tower with Robin. They proceeded down the steps to the lower part of their home, with Robin lost in his thoughts.

Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg had arrived at the tower many minutes before the other two Titans. They sat in the kitchen discussing the argument, while waiting for Robin and Starfire to come home.

"Why does he have to be so frustrating?" Beast Boy asked, while pacing around. "I only asked a question."

"A question that you keep repeatedly asking him," Raven said while sipping her tea. "I don't blame him for getting angry."

Cyborg nodded. "And Robin's right Beast Boy...the villains can break out any day. We have to be ready for that."

"But he said I shouldn't be calling myself a Titan...what's up with that?"

"Anger," Raven responded while setting down her cup. "People say things they don't mean when they're angry."

Beast Boy plopped down next to her and sighed.

"Besides, Robin's the type of guy that always pushes to be greater. He's been like that since I've met him," Cyborg added. "He told me that he just wants the best for us, and for us not to be slacking off."

Beast Boy folded his arms.

"Come on Beast Boy, without Robin, whose going to get us to train…just a little?"

The youngest Titan pondered on this a little, until Cyborg banged him on the head.

Beast Boy gave a small laugh and rubbed his head. "I guess you're right. Hey…I wonder what he's going to do when Star's gonna be at school all of that time."

"That's a good question," Raven muttered to herself, and Beast Boy looked up. "She's probably the one telling Robin not to be angry at you right now...it's like her job."

"Some job," Beast boy chortled, and Raven punched him in the arm.

oOo

The next day was a good one. Everyone had showed up to practice (Robin was pleased about this, as he gave a satisfied smile after all of the Titans had walked in) and no one bickered. After practice Robin and Starfire retreated to the roof, and Beast Boy and Raven retreated to the library, aka Raven's room. This gave Cyborg two choices. He could figure out why Raven and Beast Boy stayed locked up in Raven's room reading, or hang out with Robin and Starfire for the day. He decided to go for the latter, since that was less frightening.

On the roof, Robin and Starfire were playing basketball. They eagerly let Cyborg join them, and he played against 'the couple', one against two. Naturally being the tallest, Cyborg won every single game, and although Robin didn't like it, Starfire was happy either way. She cheered and even gave Cyborg a 'five-high'.

Robin gave a defeated sigh and changed the subject. "Where are Raven and Beast Boy anyway?" Robin asked. "I feel like I haven't seen them all day or them bicker in ages."

"Ah, they're in Raven's room. They've been going there often," Cyborg told him.

Robin raised his eyebrow.

"They're reading a book, Robin..."

"I did not know that Beast Boy had interest in novels," Starfire said, pondering.

"Neither did I…I was planning on checking them out later today. You know, try to get them out of that room."

Robin nodded. "You do that. Star and I need to go sort out her school supplies. I think they come in the mail today."

After trying to figure out why there was a hint of disappointment in Robin's voice while mentioning Starfire's school supplies, Cyborg headed off to check the other Titans.

When Cyborg got to where the rooms were located, Raven's door was a crack open, just enough so he could see that she and Beast Boy were sitting on the window sill. She was reading aloud to him, and Beast Boy was deeply interested in the book.

Or maybe it wasn't the book he was interested in?

Cyborg moved from Raven's room door, grinning. This was _very_ interesting.

* * *

**A/N: **Nothing really to say here. Just review please, and leave some constructive criticism if you can. Thanks!


	6. Confusion

**A/N: **Thank you everyone for the reviews! I didn't feel like replying to everyone and saying, "Thanks for the review," so I'm thanking you all here.:) And like I said, the book isn't real.

**Chapter Six: Confusion**

While yawing in the middle of her story, Raven looked at the time on her clock. She was so tired that she could barely see the time, but Beast Boy read it aloud for her. "It's 4:57," he told her. Raven nodded and looked back at the book. She suddenly looked up at the changeling in front of her in surprise. Three things bothered her. First of all, she was reading for a really long time, and second of all, Beast Boy didn't even fall asleep, and third of all, why the heck did she let Beast Boy in her room?

He was actually wide awake, and ready for more. "Are you going to read another chapter?" he eagerly asked.

"No, we're done for the day," Raven said to him. "Why didn't you tell me I was reading for so long?"

Beast Boy shrugged. "I dunno. Please?" he asked. He clasped his hands in a begging like way, and she sighed. This was going to be hard.

"We're done," she repeated while slamming the book shut. "We have to get to practice anyway."

"Practice is in an hour…come on Raven! Just keep on going!"

Raven frowned. "Didn't you learn anything the other day? About how we have to practice in the GYM? You even said you could handle it."

"Yeah, but even before that Robin said that we can make up practice on other days if we miss it," Beast Boy defiantly said.

"When did he say that?" Raven asked curiously. "…and why?"

"It was a couple of days ago," he started, "You weren't there...and it was when Robin let Starfire go to that class she's so interested in. She promised that she'd make up her practice later if he let her go."

Raven sighed. _Of course, that's why._ "I guess we can read a little more then, if he really did say that. Hopefully he doesn't get too angry though. I'm not in the mood for a migraine."

Beast Boy jumped up. "All right!" and he immediately sat back down.

"Hey, didn't you just hear what I said?" Raven asked, trying to keep the corners of her mouth from rising. She didn't know Beast Boy of all people could get so eager to read a book. And although she didn't show it, deep inside she was extremely happy that he liked it.

oOo

In her room, Starfire eagerly pulled on her uniform. It was not her Titan uniform however, it was her school uniform. Once she was done, she now wore a blue and white plaid skirt, with a white blouse. Although the outfit seemed rather plain, she liked wearing it and it was comfortable for the most part.

Starfire flew to her dresser where her two school books laid. They sat on top of a letter she had received from the teacher, and Starfire recalled that in the letter it had said that she needed one book at a time. Starfire picked up the one she needed which was entitled, Step By Step. She opened her drawer and pulled out a pair of pencils Raven had given to her, and set them in the cover of the book. Once she was done, she proudly looked at herself in the mirror.

_Here goes._

Starfire was so happy that she forgot to fly, and instead marched out of the room into the common room. It was empty, as most of the Titans were still asleep, but she would have at least expected to see Robin there.

She grabbed a doughnut from the counter for breakfast and began to wonder where Robin was. He never said that he would see her off for school, but she would have liked it if he did. He seemed happy to let her go to school, but he was also too into making the Titans train more. Starfire licked her lips once the doughnut had disappeared and came to a conclusion. There would only be one place in the tower where Robin would be in the early morning hours, and that would be the gym.

Starfire sighed. _Of course he would be there._ She thought of going to see the Titan leader before she left, but she was already wasting time thinking about him. She would see him after school, and she didn't want to be late on her first day.

Heading towards the exit, the Tameranian thought of Robin giving her a pleasant goodbye of her first day, and flew out of the tower to school.

oOo

Robin's brow furrowed as Cyborg entered the gym promptly at six. To his dismay, that was only one Titan. One! And it was the Titan who came up with the training plan along with him. He had also knocked on everyone else's room doors telling them to wake up as well. Robin had a small assumption that Beast Boy was still ticked off about the other day, and that was the reason that he didn't show up to practice. Robin also worried about Raven especially, who wasn't there. She always showed up to practice, whether she liked it or not.

As he waved to Cyborg his thoughts then came to Starfire, and his heart sunk. That was one thing that was pushed to the back of his mind. He forgot that she went to school, and he didn't even get to see her off on her first day. Robin gritted his teeth. Sometimes he hated himself for these small mistakes.

"Looks like it's just the two of us," Cyborg said to him, interrupting his thoughts. "Care for a spar?"

Robin nodded and spoke, "Yeah, sure…but later. Did you get see Starfire leave for school?"

"By the time she left I'd still be sleeping." Cyborg paused and then raised his eyebrow at Robin. "…did you?"

"I forgot," Robin told him gloomily. "I can't believe it though. She sees me as her best friend, and I didn't even tell her bye. I don't know how that happened."

"Sorry man, but I'm starting to think that you were so busy in here that you forgot."

"I hope she's not upset," Robin muttered.

"It'll be alright. At least Star got to go to class in the first place."

"What about Raven?" Robin asked. "It's not like her to not show up at practice."

Cyborg spun around and scanned the gym. "She's not here? Rae's always here…even before me sometimes."

"I know," Robin muttered. "I'm starting to worry about her a little. She's been spending a lot of time in her room (Cyborg gave a 'doesn't she always?' look) and she's been hanging around with Beast Boy. A lot." Once again, Robin frowned. "You don't think her hanging around him so much is influencing her…do you?"

"Probably not," Cyborg said. "She's just finally deciding to get along with him. Kind of random, but so is most of life's mysteries. I'm sure she'll come in late." He gave Robin a reassuring nod, and added, "And if BB shows up, she probably will too. Let's just get started."

The leader and second in command spared in the gym for about half an hour when Beast Boy and Raven finally came in. Beast Boy looked happy, and waved at both Cyborg and Robin as if nothing happened, and Raven looked indifferent as she usually did. Robin raised an eyebrow at them. "I'm surprised you bothered to show up," he said after a few minutes. "It's late."

The relaxed shape-shifter gave a shrug. "Yeah, well...we'll make up the training later; like you're going to let Star do."

Robin knew he would regret making that exception for Starfire. He turned to see what Raven would say, but she didn't comment on the conversation. She stayed in a corner of the gym, doing her own training.

With a lot on his mind, as soon as the training was over Robin was the first to leave the gym. Cyborg followed later, and once they were gone Beast Boy turned and grinned at Raven.

"See? I told you it would be alright to miss some practice!"

"It didn't seem 'alright' to me. He's seems a little bothered by something, and it's not just about us."

"What do you mean by…'us'?" Beast Boy asked. He wasn't sure why he asked that, but he sure did like the expression on Raven's face after doing so.

It included her eyes widening and her whole face transformed from being aloof to being alarmed. Once Raven gained her composure, she wasted no time to explain to him.

"What I meant, by 'us' was the fact that we were late to practice…nothing more."

Beast Boy suddenly laughed, and Raven looked away, slightly confused. _What was that about?_

* * *

**A/N:** I can't believe I've already posted a third of the story here. Time goes by fast, no? I thought Beast Boy's whole 'us' thing was a little random after reading it over, so if you think so as well don't be afraid to say so. XD


	7. Wonder

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I'm glad some of you were ok about the ending of the last chapter.

**Chapter Seven: Wonder**

By four the next morning, Robin was wide awake, waiting. He was still lying in his bed, as he focused on his clock. He thought about the day before, and how Starfire had come home. She was wiped out and didn't really want to speak to him. The reason wasn't because she was angry at him, and this relieved him. It just looked like she had a good day, but was tired. She did her training however, but before they could have any real conversation, she went to sleep, as she had to get up early the next morning.

_I knew I shouldn't have changed the rules for her,_ he thought to himself. At this point it was better off for Starfire to stay home and not train than be wiped out from it and have school on top of that.

Starfire seemed to be making things hard for herself though. She mentioned that she wanted to leave for school earlier to help Miss Angles set up for the school day. If Beast Boy had confronted her about this, he would have called her a teacher's pet.

Robin recalled offering to take Starfire's school supplies from her and put them away, so she had more time to rest. He glanced over at the books and pencils she had given him that sat on his own desk. Today he was sure he would be there to see her off to school, because she had to get her school supplies to go.

After a moment or two of more thinking, Robin decided that he needed to get up out of bed if he wanted to say goodbye to her on time. He also remembered that had to wake up the other Titans in another hour.

After a shower and changing into his uniform, Robin went to eat an early breakfast. Once he walked into the kitchen, he was surprised to see Starfire already there, wide awake. Apparently, going to sleep early the day before paid off.

Trying to sound aloof, he spoke, "You're up early. You do know that you don't have to get up for another two hours, right?"

"I know," Starfire said. She herself was surprised to see him in the kitchen so early as well. "You have already done your training?"

"Well...no. I just decided to say goodbye to you this morning before you went to school."

Starfire's face softened. "This early?"

Robin sheepishly spoke, "Yeah well...I had other things to do. I'm sorry I didn't see you before you went to school yesterday. I forgot."

_He forgot?_ "You forgot?" Starfire asked, tensely.

Robin knew immediately that what he said was a mistake.

"I said I was sorry," he said once again. "I had a lot on my mind."

"I see."

Robin rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "So how was your day yesterday at school? I barely got to talk to you."

Starfire gave a small smile, proving that she did indeed have a good time at school. "Well, we read a story, and we looked into our teaching book. Miss Angles introduced the class to the 'parts of speech' as well."

"Right…so it's stuff you already know?" Robin asked her.

Starfire shook her head. "No, I am not that good at the parts of speech already. Besides, there will be much more to learn."

"Anything interesting happen?" Robin asked her.

"No. There are only ten others in the class with me. Miss Angles is nice to each of us though!"

They both decided to sit down at the table, and they did so in silence. "Why were you so tired yesterday?" Robin finally asked.

"We practiced the parts of speech very much yesterday," Starfire said softly. "It was much, but Miss Angles, the other students and I believe that it was worth it."

Robin's eyes widened. "All on the first day? Sounds like a tough teacher."

Starfire said nothing.

Robin changed the subject. "Yesterday was pretty interesting here too I guess. Raven and Beast Boy were both late to training."

"Raven was late to training?" Starfire asked, astonished.

"Yeah, I had the same reaction when it happened. Cyborg and I were the only ones there for a while. I think she was still reading that book with Beast Boy and that caused them both to be late."

Starfire nodded. "Yes, that book really does seem interesting to our dear friends. I wonder what it is about."

"So do I..." Robin said to both himself and Starfire, "Especially if Raven's been letting Beast Boy in her room this whole time." He looked at the time on the wall, and stood up. "Well, speaking of training and the others, I better start telling them to get up. Do you want to come?"

"No thank you," Starfire declined. "I must study my book a little more before I go to school."

"Ok...let me get you your school materials from my room."

Robin ran to his room and back to the kitchen in no time with Starfire's materials. He handed them to her. "Have a good day at school," he told her. He shyly gave her a half hug. "I'll see you later today."

"Ok," Starfire said to him. One thing was for sure, today was much better than the day before.

---

However, she could not say the same thing when she came home.

When Starfire came back to the tower from school, as she was the day before, she was wiped out. Robin came to greet her as he planned to, and they sat down on the couch in the common room.

"I'm guessing you had a rough day?" He asked, while handing her a pillow.

Starfire nodded. "I am sorry about putting off practice even more, but I have the homework to do—"

Robin cut her off. "Don't worry about it." He was going to have a hard time explaining letting Starfire off of practice to Beast Boy.

"Do not say that," Starfire told him firmly. "I have heard Beast Boy complaining that you have been making exceptions for me, and I do not like that. If I am to train, I will train."

"But you're tired," Robin told her defensively. "I don't want to put you through all of that work, especially if you have school to worry about."

"And I do not want to be seen as weak," Starfire said. "I would feel better if you made me train like everyone else, and not let me get away with not doing it."

Robin said nothing for a moment and answered her, "All right."

Starfire opened her book, and pulled her pencil from the front of it. "Now, my homework is more practice on the parts of speech." She showed Robin the pages she had to do.

"Can I help you do some?" he asked, "Just so it doesn't take as long?"

Starfire beamed at him. "Of course. You shall read out each sentence, and I will tell you if it is a noun, verb, or adjective."

"What about adverbs and pronouns?" Robin asked, expecting there to be more work to do.

"I do not believe that we are not there yet."

"Ok, here goes. Here's the first one: Book."

"It is a noun."

"Eating."

"It is a verb," Starfire lazily said.

"Foot."

"A noun."

"Boring," a voice said from behind them.

"That is an adjective?" Starfire questioned, while spinning around. She faced the owner of the voice, who looked indifferent. "Beast Boy! I did not know you were going to help with my homework as well."

"...I wasn't."

Robin turned to him as well. "You're not reading that book with Raven today?" He asked him, surprised. "Or playing video games?"

"Nah, not today," Beast Boy said, while taking a sip from the soda he was holding. "And you're sitting right in front of the Gamestation anyway."

Robin slightly reddened at the obvious remark.

"But once you're finished, I can play some with you Starfire," Beast Boy said. "It's about time you had some fun."

"I would like to, but I have much homework."

"Ok, then…your loss."

Robin sighed. "Starfire, you already seem like you know what you're doing here, so I'm going to leave you alone to do the rest. If you need me, just call me. I'll be in my room."

Starfire nodded as Robin left the room and Beast Boy plopped on the couch next to Starfire.

"So, do you really think school is fun?" he asked her.

"It is."

Beast Boy stared at her book. "You know, I heard you telling Robin that you didn't like exceptions being made for you."

Starfire flushed. "You did?"

"Yeah...it was good and all, but I wouldn't have done that if I were you. You're making it easy for yourself to miss the outings on Fridays."

Starfire sighed. "I believe we see things differently then. I would rather get my duties done then do the outings." She then quietly asked, "What is it like missing 'the outing?'"

"Pretty boring," Beast Boy quickly answered, "Extremely boring. But I had Raven with me so..."

Starfire looked confused. "Beast Boy, I thought you felt that Raven was boring, but lately you have been spending much time with her. I am very surprised at you...but happy for you as well."

Beast Boy grinned. "Well, Raven's pretty cool." _Pretty cool? She's wonderful_, a voice in Beast Boy's head immediately said. _Where did that come from?_ Beast Boy nervously thought on his own will.

"Why are you not reading with her today?" Starfire softly asked.

"She didn't feel like it, and she's working on the T-Car with Cyborg anyway…look Star, you have a lot of homework from what I've seen. Aren't you going to do it?"

"I suppose you are right. Perhaps we will play the video games another time. Thank you for speaking with me!" Starfire told him, as he got up from the couch, lost in his own thoughts. _What's taking Cy and Raven so long to fix the car?_ He thought. _And why would she rather do that than hang out with me?_ The voice said again.

Beast Boy groaned.

* * *

**A/N: **The next chapter is another one of my favorites, but I like it better than chapter five. Actually, if I remember correctly it IS my favorite. XD That chapter will be posted on Monday. Have a good weekend! 


	8. Freedom!

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews! I realized that I first started writing this fic exactly a month ago. Little did I know that almost half of it would be posted on the internet a month later…

**Chapter Eight: Freedom!**

"So...are you going to do it?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Skip practice!"

"You never do learn, do you?"

It was Friday, the day with the outing night, and the two Titans, Raven and Beast Boy sat on Raven's windowsill, bickering. The sitting on the windowsill was becoming a routine for them at the end of the day. They would train in the morning, do whatever else they needed to do (this included the sleeping some since they lost some while reading), read a little in Raven's book, talk for a very short while, bicker, and read a little more.

"Not really," the shape-shifter answered her. "I just don't feel like training."

"And what if I feel like training?" Raven asked him. "I know I don't need to as much as you, but I can still leave you here and go."

"But you're the reason why I'm skipping!" he blurted out. "F—For the book."

"For the book," Raven muttered. _That's it?_ "I don't know...it was kind of fun reading with you." She couldn't believe what she was saying. How was it fun reading with him?

_Because he gave the book a chance._

"Oh, yeah," Raven said aloud. "Robin seems fine about Star going to school now," Raven said.

"See! That's another reason we should skip. He's not in a bad mood today."

"He will be if we ditch the training session."

"But he got over it last time…after we came to the gym a couple of more times. It's like he completely forgot!"

"I don't think so...and last time we only came late, we didn't ditch completely."

Although Raven was apprehensive, both of them didn't budge as six rolled around. It seemed that Robin was letting the Titans to get up whenever they wanted that day, since he didn't bang on their doors asking them to get up.

They watched the sun rise out of Raven's window, but neither of them concentrated on it. It was as if they both wanted to skip, but wouldn't unless the other stayed with them.

"Well, since it looks like you don't plan on training today, we're probably staying here and reading that book, right?" Beast Boy curiously asked.

Raven had forgotten about the book. It was the reason they were up late in her room, but her mind didn't dwell on it as much as it should have been. For a moment she hated to hear about the book. After all, it was the only reason he was hanging out with her...not that it really mattered, but that was a really pathetic reason.

"No, I'm not reading the book today."

"Why not?" Beast Boy asked alarmed.

"Because I can't read this book to you all of the time...I've got other things to do Beast Boy. Like meditate...or read on my own."

"Then let me read it by myself," Beast Boy muttered, although he'd never do that in a million years.

"No, we're not reading it at all. If you want to stay here without me reading the book, then stay. If you don't, then we'll go to practice."

Beast Boy looked at Raven's clock. If he chose the latter, it wouldn't matter because they would already be late to training.

"I want to stay here," he said. "Book or not."

Raven raised her eyebrows, and her face tinted. "Ok, then."

oOo

That night was fairly quiet. Robin didn't even bother telling Beast Boy and Raven that they couldn't go to the outing, which happened to be bowling, and the two skippers watched the Titans get ready to leave.

Starfire quietly stood with Robin as he pulled on his jacket. She didn't speak much, and looked at the ground often.

"Ready to leave, Star?" he asked, while pulling his arms through his sleeves.

"Not exactly."

Robin halted.

"I...I would rather take a walk by myself tonight. It has…been a long week."

"...what?"

"Robin, I do not deserve to go to the outing with you and Cyborg. As Raven and Beast Boy, I was not in the gym everyday, training. And I did not make up my work as well."

"Starfire I said it was—" he paused and remembered Starfire telling him that she did not want to be seen as weak. "Ok, then. If that's what you want." He managed a smile.

Cyborg, Starfire and Robin exited the tower, and Robin and Starfire parted ways. "I am hoping that you have fun," Starfire told him.

"You too."

"Where's she going?" Cyborg asked him, as he climbed into the T-Car.

"Walking," Robin simply told him.

As soon as the other Titans exited, Beast Boy spoke. "I can't believe we're stuck here together again!" he cried. Raven looked up to tell him that it was his fault they were there in the first place, but closed her mouth when she saw that he was smiling.

"So...what are we going to do?"

"We're not going to read the book," Raven said, "If that's what you're thinking."

"Wanna play video—"

"No."

"Man, I should have gone to practice," Beast Boy muttered. "At least I could leave the tower."

"Well…what's keeping you from staying here?" Raven asked. "It's not like we're locked up or anything."

Beast Boy's eyes widened and he looked at the empath, astonished. A moment later he gave himself a forehead slap. "Oh…yeah! And all of this time I've been stuck home without realizing that."

Raven rolled her eyes.

Beast Boy ran towards the door in excitement. Although he was not locked up, he sure felt like a prisoner. He halted and swerved around. "Wait…where should I go?"

Raven sighed. "I don't know….the arcade?"

"Ok! Um…where is that again?"

Raven blinked at his remark. "You go there all the time. You know where it is."

"Yeah…but Cyborg always drives me there."

Raven walked towards him. "Come on, I'll just show you."

"You mean you're coming with me?" he asked, astounded.

Raven looked away from him. "You want to leave the tower, don't you?" she quietly told him.

Beast Boy nodded feverously. "Dude, this is gonna be so fun!"

Raven flinched at being referred to as a "dude". "I'm going to take my book with me, because I know I'm going to get bored."

Beast Boy stared at her and smiled. Raven flew up over him, ready to leave. "What are you smiling at?"

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "Nothing. Let's go."

oOo

The arcade was loud and noisy as Raven expected, and as soon as they walked in she found a table in a corner to sit at to read her book. Beast Boy disappeared into the crowd after she did this. Raven took a deep breath and started reading her book.

"_I'm going to the art festival," Darcy told Lorenzo with a wave of her hand. She gripped the knob of the door to leave. "You don't want to go; you wouldn't be interested."_

"_I'm interested," he told her, his eyes shining. "You always have to put up with my games, so I'm going to put up with yours."_

"_It isn't a game," she corrected him. "It's something you wouldn't be able to comprehend." Without waiting for an answer, Darcy continued, "You are sure you want to come?"_

Beast Boy, who had tried every one of the games at least four times, finally came and sought out Raven.

"Are you done?" Raven asked him, without looking up from her book.

"I guess so...I ran out of tokens," Beast Boy told her, while checking his once full pockets twice.

"Good. Now let's go home before the others do before us. I can't even believe I let you talk me into coming here."

"It was your idea!" Beast Boy interjected.

Raven stood up, trying to forget that Beast Boy was right. "Come on."

Beast Boy stood his ground. "Um...Raven?"

"What?"

"I was wondering if we could do something you want to do also."

Raven's heart raced. This was all too familiar. "There's nothing I'd want to do here," She said coldly. "I only want to read my book."

"I'll read it with you then," Beast Boy offered. "You did take me here after all."

Raven looked away. What was he getting at? "It's too loud in here to read. Let's just go home."

"But I don't want to go home just yet...let's read it in the parking lot."

Without thinking, he pulled Raven by the wrist out of the arcade, and into the lot. They sat between two parking meters and Raven hesitantly opened the book up.

"What part are you on?" Beast Boy asked.

"Lorenzo went with Darcy to the art museum," Raven muttered. "It's nothing really exciting."

"You were smiling while you were reading it," Beast Boy pointed out.

Raven's eyes widened and she looked up at him. "You noticed?" she asked. "I was in the way corner of the room, there was no possible way you could have seen me."

Beast Boy shrugged. "Well when I found you, you were. It was kind of funny 'cause you rarely to that…can I read this time?"

"Why?" Raven asked, trying to ignore his previous comment.

"You always get read the book out loud. I want to try for once." As he had done when Raven first showed him the novel, he attempted to grab it from her. As he tried, Raven did not let go. "I'll hold the book," she told him quietly, "You just read."

Raven handed him the open book and he flipped the pages. The text looked odd, and Beast Boy began to believe that it looked that way because he never really read a book. "Darcy and Lorenzo go to the art museum, blah, blah. Hmm…here's probably where you left off: "Lorenzo rubbed the back of her neck and slowly brought them closer together. She could feel his breath on her and…"

"That isn't where I left off!" Raven panicked.

"Oh…it's not? That's ok, just show me the real place and I'll –"

"Let's just go home," Raven said while blushing. "We've been here long enough." She quickly stood up, with Beast Boy jumping up after her.

"Look, what was so bad about that part of the book?" Beast Boy asked, breathing hard.

"That wasn't the part I wanted you to read," she simply said. Raven walked faster, causing Beast Boy to run to keep up.

"But it's just a book, Raven. So it had a little romance, so what?"

Raven shrugged.

"I'm sorry about it though," he said. "I didn't mean to make you mad by reading that."

Raven flew up into the sky, and Beast Boy did the same after he morphed into a hawk. She knew that if she flew, he would have to as well, and luckily birds did not have the ability to talk.

* * *

**A/N: **After reading this over, I don't think this is as great as I remember it. XD It's kind of cheesy. Hopefully this chapter shows up despite technical difficulties. I know probably some of you won't be able to because of the site's problems, but when they are over please review, and remember tell what you liked and stuff.


	9. Maturity

**A/N:** Ugh…I just noticed the last chapter was more dialogue than anything. I hate it when that happens. I bet this chapter will look just like that. XD Thanks for the reviews, and I'm glad you all liked that last chapter.

**Chapter Nine: Maturity **

They two Titans flew in silence and after a short while they landed on the rocks in front of the tower. Raven punched the password in quickly, hoping that they had gotten home in time. However, the door opened, and they were greeted by Cyborg.

_Well that's just great,_ Raven smugly thought.

"Hey you two," Cyborg said while grinning, "Have fun ignoring tower rules?"

"Hey, it's not like we were locked up," Beast Boy said, quoting Raven. "We could have left if we wanted."

"Calm down," Cyborg told him, "I probably would have done the same thing…the only difference is that I wouldn't have gotten caught. Look, just be careful. Robin's a little ticked off that you two just up and left like that, and he's especially disappointed in you Raven."

Beast Boy entered the tower and walked over to the couch and sat down. "Well I'll be ready when he comes."

Raven stood still, and Cyborg looked at her, concerned. "You've been acting different lately...are you alright, Rae?"

"I'm fine," Raven told him and proceeded to walk past him, but Cyborg stepped in front of her.

"Look, I'm just worried about you. You literally skipped practice today, with no worries…like Beast Boy. You also went and decided to up and leave when you were supposed to stay at the tower."

"Robin will get over it."

"He may get over it," Cyborg told her. "But it's going to be a long time. He and I were the only ones who showed up for practice this morning."

Raven raised her eyebrow. "What about Starfire?"

"She had to go to class this morning, remember? Look, the guy thinks the team is falling apart, and he's already depressed that he never really gets to see Starfire."

Raven pondered for a moment. "Wait a minute...if Starfire didn't come to training today, then where was she? She wasn't in the tower with me and Beast Boy."

"She took a walk," Cyborg explained, "She trained this afternoon after school, but not on other days. She also had homework this afternoon. I think those classes are really taking the energy out of her."

"Oh."

"If you're worried about her, I'm sure she'll be back soon. She's a strong girl."

Robin walked into the common room and stared at the three Titans who were occupied there. Cyborg and Raven stared at him while Beast Boy calmly sat on the couch. Robin ignored him, and went straight for Raven.

"Mind telling me why you weren't here when we came back?" He gruffly asked.

"We didn't want to stay in the tower all night, Robin."

"You had no problem doing that on previous nights," Robin pointed out to her. He took a deep sigh, not wanting to yell at her. He then spoke softly, "Raven...what's going on with you lately? You seem so different now."

"How different…?"

"Careless."

"If you're wondering, I care about the team, okay?"

"It's not just the team, it's everything else."

There was a slight pause between them. "I'm fine, and I will be fine, Robin. I think you're just a little upset that Starfire's been gone all day," Raven told him. She didn't even show fear while doing so.

Beast Boy looked up at her in awe and Cyborg firmly put his hand on Robin's shoulder.

A silence passed in the room, until Robin spoke. "This has nothing to do with Starfire."

"All right then. Then it's settled." Raven walked over and out of the room, ending the conversation. Robin wriggled from Cyborg's grip and took one last look at the entrance to the tower. Then, he quietly went to his room.

Cyborg and Beast Boy stayed in silence, until Beast Boy broke it.

"So is he too good to yell at me or something?"

oOo

Robin came back to the common room later than night, when it had finally cleared out He sat on the couch where Beast Boy sat earlier, and he could tell from the tofu smell. But that wasn't important at the moment. He needed to see Starfire.

He began to ponder on why she would need to take a walk. If she was tired, she would lie down. It was most likely because school and training was putting too much pressure on her. That would mean half of the reason was his fault. Robin groaned and put his head in his hands.

In this position, he wondered where Starfire was at that moment. It must had been one long walk she was taking, but no matter how long it was he would wait for her.

The wait was not easy, however.

He began to think about ways to apologize to the Tameranian, or to greet her when she came back.

_Starfire flew through the main entrance beaming, not at thin air, but at him. She then flew to the couch and hugged Robin. "Thank you for waiting for me, friend," she said, "That was very sweet of you to stay up so late."_

_"You're welcome," was all Robin could manage. "I'm sorry about being hard on you for practicing."_

_"You were hard on everyone, not just me."_

_"Ok."_

_"I missed you very much, Robin," she continued, "I thought about you a lot during my walk."_

_"I thought about you too," Robin said, "I worried about you while we were at the bowling alley."_

_Starfire blushed as she moved closer to him. Robin wasn't even nervous at all. He followed suit and closed his eyes, and although his eyes were closed, he could tell that her eyes were closed as well. They leaned closer until he could smell her...but instead of what he expected, she stunk...badly..._

Robin opened his eyes to see Beast Boy playing Mega Monkeys on one player mode beside him. He didn't seem to notice that the sleeping Titan next to him had awakened, but when Robin sat up he did.

"Robin!" Beats Boy said, alarmed. "You're awake! Sorry I sat on the couch while you were sleeping, but I just had to play Mega Monkeys, I couldn't sleep."

"Yeah...whatever." Robin rubbed his eyes. "How long have I been sleeping...and what time is it? Did Star come home?" he interrogated.

"Only about an hour, it's midnight, and yes I know it's late. I'm pretty sure Starfire came back. She's probably in her room."

"Only an hour," Robin muttered, "Seemed longer than that."

"I told you, you can't sleep well on a couch," Beast Boy said.

They sat in an awkward silence. The two were different, very different, so what could he say? Robin was about to leave the room, but he decided to stay. He wanted to clear things up with Beast Boy.

"Beast Boy…do you remember that day when we were at the bank—"

"How could I forget?" Beast Boy mumbled. He kept his eyes on the screen of the game, as he smashed two monkeys.

Robin shook his head and sighed. "Look, all I wanted to say was that I'm sorry about the things I said—especially about you being a Titan. I was just angry…I don't know what came over me. I just started saying things I don't really mean."

Boy, did Raven know everything.

Beast Boy suspiciously looked at him. "Did Starfire put you up to this?"

"No, she just talked to me that day when I flew with her. Her condition after school made me think of apologizing to you. Since Star's been tired all the time now…and you and Raven rarely come to practice anymore, I feel like I've been pressuring the whole team."

Beast Boy looked away from the game he was playing. "I didn't know you felt that way," he muttered. "Sorry I was a little annoying to you…I thought it was just me you were angry about."

Robin shook his head. "I wasn't angry, just frustrated."

Beast Boy gave a small grin. "So…were cool buds now, right?"

Robin gave the changeling a funny look, and his eyebrow rose.

Beast Boy paused the game he was playing and put out his right hand. Robin grasped it with his own hand and shook it. "Yeah, we're cool."

_Ever have one of those moments when you feel all grown up? Well, I just had one._

Once Robin planned to go upstairs, he wanted to check up on Starfire, but he was too tired by the time he got up there. He lied down on his bed and set the alarm. He had to get some sleep, since he had to get up in five hours.

* * *

**A/N: **Now half the story is posted!That last part in italics in supposed to be Beast Boy thinking by the way. I just wanted to make clear who it was. This chapter has one of my favorite scenes. Can you guess what it is?


	10. Search

**A/N: **Thank you all of the reviews, and speaking of them,happy 100 reviews everyone! The hundredth reviewer was Half-Gothic Chick, so congrats on that. XD My favorite scene from the last chapter was the BB/Rob moment. This chapter has Cyborg and Beast Boy mostly, but Raven is in here a little.

**Chapter Ten: Search**

Most of Robin's confrontations didn't usually bother Raven, but being seen as careless by him sure did.

While meditating that morning after practice, Raven sat cross legged on the window sill, thinking about Robin's words the night before. He was right; that book did seem to be taking a lot of time from her, and she couldn't deny that she was slightly being careless.

_But you could say the same for Starfire_, she thought. _School's been taking up most of her time._

That was true.

Raven opened her eyes from meditation and picked up the popular book between herself and the youngest Titan from beside her. The story told within it seemed to get longer everyday, just because Beast Boy wanted to read it with her. Raven flipped to the chapter where they left off, where Darcy became sick with influenza. She wasn't able to communicate with her family or friends for a little while, and had a semi-quick recovery. Of course, Lorenzo tried to get to her and take care of her while she was sick. Raven wondered that if she were to get sick, would Beast Boy try to take care of her in the same way as well.

She was sure the possibility was likely. It was likely in a scary sort of way, because she began to realize strange similarities that related to her own life in various sections that she had read with Beast Boy.

The moments between Darcy and Lorenzo actually began to confuse her. Romantic or not, they was so analogous to herself and the changeling, that she was in awe as she read it. Did the author mean to do it on purpose, or just a coincidence?

Raven recollected every single moment that she had had with Beast Boy in the past few weeks. Most of them were similar to Darcy and Lorenzo. As a matter of fact, each thing that happened to her and Beast Boy had happened right after they had read about Darcy and Lorenzo having a similar situation. Raven wasn't sure if she wanted to read the book anymore because of this, but a strange longing within her wished to keep on reading it, just to see what would happen next.

Raven closed the book, and stood up to set it in her drawer. She needed to think about it more before she continued reading with him, and it was possible to take a while.

A knock sounded on her door after she did so, and immediately she knew who it was.

When Raven opened the door, it revealed Beast Boy.

"Hey, Raven," he greeted, "I was wondering if we could hang out…with that book. I mean. I haven't seen you all day."

Raven shook her head. "No, not today."

"Why not?" Beast Boy asked, with a hint of disappointment in his question. He seemed surprised as well.

"I lost it," Raven simply said. Part of her wanted to scream. Why was she lying to him all of a sudden? Because that book might foreshadow something else between them?

"You lost it?" he asked, confused. "You rarely ever lose stuff."

Raven groaned. "I know. I—I already tried looking for it in here, so don't bother."

"Oh...ok. You sure you don't even need anymore help looking for it?"

"No. I'm starting to feel a little sick anyway," Raven truthfully told him. She had a sinking feeling that the lie was making her sick.

"All right. I hope you feel better," Beast Boy said, as he slowly turned from her door.

"Me too," Raven said to him. "I'm sorry," she added softly.

oOo

Beast Boy was determined to find that book. Although it had no author, no title, and no picture, he was sure it had to be somewhere out in the big city.

The public library was the first place that came to his mind. It had lots and lots of books, so as much as he wanted to check there, he definitely did not want to go alone. So, the next thing he knew he was facing Cyborg, who was cleaning 'his baby', getting ready to ask him to join him in the search for the book.

"What do you want?" Cyborg asked him, while on his third round of scrubbing the wheels of the car.

"I need you to do me a favor," Beast Boy responded, nervously wringing his hands.

Cyborg looked up at him, uncertain.

"Pleasssseeee? For your best buddy?"

Cyborg sighed, "All right then. As long as it isn't something stupid."

"It isn't," Beast Boy breathed, "Trust me. We need to find a book."

"Are you turning into Raven?" he questioned, "Since when were you crazy about books?"

"I'm not crazy about books...it's just this one. That one me and Raven have been reading is missing!"

Cyborg stood up, while examining the car. "Are you sure? She might have just misplaced it."

Beast Boy shook his head. "She said she checked. I don't want to bother her again because she doesn't feel good...look, can you please help me find it? I don't know much about the book, but I do know enough to find it. I think we need to start at the library."

Cyborg frowned, "But I just cleaned my—"

Beast Boy narrowed his eyes at him.

"I'm just kidding, BB," Cyborg chortled, "Of course I'll help you find your special book."

Beast Boy grinned and pushed Cyborg aside to hop into the car. "Then let's go!"

oOo

The library was more crowed than they had expected. There were people of all ages there, proving that it wasn't as quiet as they expected as well.

"Dude, I didn't know so many people liked reading!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Well…we learn something new everyday, don't we? So what's this book called?"

"Um...that's one of the things I don't know." Beast Boy told him.

"The author?"

Beast Boy shrugged.

"The cover art…if there's any?" Cyborg desperately asked.

Beast Boy shook his head.

"What kind of book is this anyway?"

"A strange one. All I know is what it's about," Beast Boy told him, and Cyborg beckoned for him to tell a summary of it.

Beast Boy told him about how Darcy hated her neighbor, Lorenzo, but as the book goes along they start to get along as well. They were different; Darcy liked art very much, and Lorenzo liked bugging her and goofing off, but one day they have a similar experience when both of them lose a family member (Darcy's sister and Lorenzo's father) on the same day, of the same year, however. They both try to figure out if it was a murder or not during their own investigations, and decide to tell no one about it since it's their little secret.

"That's all the interesting stuff," Beast Boy explained once he was finished. "Other than the pranks Lorenzo plays."

Cyborg put his chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Darcy, huh? I think I heard that name in a book. Or maybe her name was something else..."

"You have?" Beast Boy excitedly cut him off. Their search was soon to be over!

"Yeah, but it was nothing like this. It was some girl who had to take care of her little brothers and sister, and take them to their aunt's house because their mom was crazy."

Beast Boy got an apprehensive look.

"It was a book I had to read in eighth grade, OK? Why don't we just ask the librarian for help?"

"That's a great idea!" Beast Boy cried. "That's what they're for other than glaring at people, right?"

"Uh...you didn't know that?"

Beast Boy dragged Cyborg to the librarian's desk in a rush, while both attempting to wave to fans and avoid fangirls. When they were safe and sound with the librarian, Beast Boy explained a brief summary of the book to her, once again.

"I've never heard of this story," she told Beast Boy, while tilting her glasses. "Are you sure it's not a fairly new book?"

"Um...I don't think so," Beast Boy said. He began to regret that he did not look for a copyright date on the book...along with not asking Raven what the title and author was.

"I recommend checking the bookstore," she told them. "They have a _plethora_ of newly released books." She took a pencil and paper and wrote down directions to the nearest bookstore. After taking that, the two Titans left from there.

However, at the bookstore they had even less luck, and Beast Boy began to think the search was hopeless.

"Maybe it's some special book from Azarath," Cyborg told him.

"Nah, it seems pretty normal to me."

"Actually, it sounds kind of suspicious when you think about it," Cyborg told him.

Beast Boy looked up at him. "Raven's been more careful with books since the one you're thinking of. I'm sure it's harmless."

"Well then, this must be some really good book," Cyborg told him, while they boarded into the T-Car. "It doesn't sound too interesting to me, but each to their own, I guess. Why don't you and Raven read something else for the time being?"

"I said that was the only book I like. Besides, it may not seem exciting to you, but there's something special about this one. I can feel it."

"Really?" Cyborg asked, while keeping his eyes on the road.

"Yeah...too bad I can't figure it out," Beast Boy muttered.

"Then why don't you try hanging out with Raven without that book?" Cyborg asked. "I'm sure she won't kill you after all of that bonding you've had."

"Raven doesn't like any of the things I do," Beast Boy said. "I mean, I liked the book, but it was the only reason I could hang out with her (Cyborg snickered at this). We're too different for anything else, so how am I supposed to hang out with her anyway?"

"I can arrange that," Cyborg said, while flashing a half grin. "Just wait 'til we get home."

* * *

**A/N: **The book Cyborg talks about is a real one called Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. I had to read it in eighth grade...The next chapter takes place the same time this one does, and that's what Robin and Starfire are doing. I didn't want to put it all into one chapter because that would seem long compared to the others. Thanks for reading, and remember to review!


	11. Learning

**A/N: **It's funny how so many people have read that book, Homecoming. It must be popular. Anyway, thanks to PheelyPhan for pointing out that the main character's name in that book was Dicey, not Darcy. I changed the scene in the fic to make it right. Like I said before, this chapter is all about Robin and Starfire (don't be upset!) and takes place at the same time as chapter 10.

**Chapter Eleven: Learning**

Finally, it was the weekend for Starfire. And as soon as she was done training, doing extra homework from the day before and doing other things, Robin approached her.

"You don't seem as tired today," Robin pointed out to her. "Probably because you didn't have to go to school…"

"Yes. Today was a good day," she beamed.

He gave a small smile. "Well, that sounds good...because I was planning on doing something with you."

Starfire's stomach lurched. The comment was unexpected, but she quickly questioned him. "What is it?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to go to the pizza parlor a bit, and…walk around a little. You know…just to catch up on things."

When Starfire didn't reply, he reddened. _Maybe it was too early to ask such a request_, he thought, but he continued on to explain himself. "I was waiting for you to finish up with everything else before I asked you."

"Thank you," Starfire told him. "And I would be most honored to spend time with you."

Robin tried to hold down his growing smile. "Alright, then let's go. Fly or ride?"

"Fly, please."

The Tameranian lifted Robin up by the armpits, and over into the evening sky. The way she flew so easily made Robin aware and pleased to know that she was in high spirits. Although the wind blew in her eyes so often, she giggled, at it. It was as if she was seeing fresh air for the first time.

She landed along with Robin at the parlor, and carefully set him down.

"What pizza do you want?" he asked, "Your choice."

"Mustard please," she said, and Robin smiled at the memory of Beast Boy convincing Starfire that mustard was a pizza topping. He was the only one who knew that she eventually found out that it wasn't true, and it became an inside joke between him and her, as Beast Boy and others still didn't know that she knew the truth.

Robin and Starfire sat at an empty table and Robin ordered. Starfire felt both nervous and happy at the present moment. She wondered if he had planned the whole thing for her for a long time, and how long it took him to do. She was grateful that Robin was waiting for her at home to finish up everything as well. She wasn't sure what Robin called this 'outing' of theirs, but if he wanted to call it a date, she had no complaints. Their relationship seemed like an unspoken love anyway, as Starfire had observed in the movies. The two characters that were kindred hearts yet they didn't show it much. Starfire began to realize that it was one of the many reasons that Robin had a hard time asking her out and explaining his feelings for her.

Or maybe he was just being a boy.

The waiter came while balancing two pizzas (the alien had a big appetite) and a mustard bottle, and Robin ran up to him to help him. Once the food was on the table, he sat down relieved that the pizza did not fall, and Starfire started eating.

"What's you do yesterday at school?" Robin said to her, while gazing at her.

"We visited a museum and it was about the history of Jump City. We learned about the types of people that helped make it, which were their personalities."

Robin nodded. He had forgotten how boring school had been.

"Two other children had also gotten in a fight," Starfire added, while on her fifth piece.

Robin suddenly remembered that there were some interesting things that could happen during a school day. "Over what?" he asked her.

"They were twins," Starfire started, while sipping her mustard. "One did not like Miss Angles, and the other did."

"They said that?"

"No, but it seemed that way. I do not understand their language yet. The one who disliked her was pointing and yelling, and the other was angry he was doing so. Miss Angles put them in the timeout when we returned to class."

"Timeout?" Robin asked, while eating his own piece. "Aren't the people in the class a little too old for that?"

Starfire shrugged. "Miss Angles said it was for the best. The twin that liked her received a candy though. What happened at the tower?"

Robin was appalled that Starfire didn't seem to care about the fight very much. Knowing her, she would have usually tried to stop it, and correct the other students. He also noticed that Starfire seemed to ask about his day always after he asked about hers. It must have been the product of the common courtesy the students learned in her class.

"Nothing much," Robin truthfully told her. "Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy have been elsewhere all the time lately. Especially Beast Boy and Raven. She's in her room often."

"I am beginning to think that is normal for her," Starfire said, while picking at the cheese on her pizza.

"Yeah, me too. Are you finished?"

"Yes. Thank you."

The two Titans threw away their plates and Robin grabbed the remaining slices of pizza to take home. After that, they proceeded to walk through the city. It was still fairly quiet there because apparently the common criminals were finally taken care of by the police.

"So the tower has been quite...boring lately," Starfire spoke, continuing from their early conversation.

"Pretty much. You were kind of the life of the tower," Robin answered.

Starfire looked at him. "You think that?"

"Well...yes. You were pretty much the main person I hung out with. Cyborg and Beast Boy and Raven are really close, and…I can't train all day. I've had Silkie to watch while you've been gone," he sheepishly joked. "But…it's been pretty lonely without you, Star."

Starfire stopped walking and faced him. She felt sorry for him in a way and began to feel guilt about going to the classes. The way he described the days at Titans Tower did seem pretty boring.

"I am sorry you feel that way," she spoke softly. "Hopefully I finish my classes soon and we can proceed to being the way we were."

Robin nodded. "If you weren't tired at the end of the day so often, we could do this everyday."

"I cannot help that," she replied. "But it was nice of you to want to do the 'outing' with me today."

Robin smiled at her. "Well, I kind of wanted to do it because you missed it yesterday. It wasn't really fair for you to miss it like that." So maybe it wasn't the best excuse for not calling it a date, but it wasn't the worst one.

"So are you going to do the same with Raven and Beast Boy? They missed the outing too," Starfire wasted no time to point out.

Oops.

"No, um...I only planned to do this with you. You needed to get out more anyway." He rubbed the back of his neck and continued, "Besides, they already had their own outing when they left the tower that night."

"That is true."

"Pretty cool that they lasted that whole time together," Robin muttered as they started walking again. "Cyborg has evidences that they've lost it."

Starfire giggled. "It is 'Cyborg has evidence that they have lost it', not 'evidences'."

Robin's eyes widened. "It was just a little grammar mistake."

"I am sorry. It is a habit," Starfire said, while blushing. "We have gone over common grammar mistakes in class, and we are to point them out whenever we hear or see one."

"Sounds a little strict," Robin muttered.

_You did it all the time_, she thought. "Not at all, it is very helpful," Starfire said.

"I'm guessing Miss Angles said that?" Robin asked, bluntly.

"Yes. You are having a problem with her?" Starfire curiously asked him.

"Not really…but she seems a little too intent on this learning English nonsense."

Starfire looked up, and once she did Robin knew he should not have included that last word.

"…nonsense?"

Robin said nothing.

Starfire glowered. She didn't want to start to get angry—not at that moment. "I would rather not speak of this subject anymore. I wish to go home now."

"Fine," Robin muttered. Another stupid mistake on his part.

Starfire half heartedly lifted Robin up and flew herself and her friend home. His comment upset her little, but she tried to convince herself that she was just sleepy and worn out, and that was why she was a little upset.

Besides, it was what Miss Angles would tell her, and she would probably recommend the alien to go to sleep as well.

* * *

**A/N: **To tell the truth, this is one of my least favorite chapters. Starfire's correction to Robin was kind of stupid, now that I think about it. The chapter isn't "filler" though, because Robin and Starfire have their own story too. Thanks for the reviews, and please keep on doing so. It is fun to read them (especially the ones guessing what's going to happen next). :) 


	12. Discovery

**A/N:** Thanks for reviewing everyone! I replied to reviews this time, but it was only the ones who had comments & speculation on what would happen. That was fun.

Cyborg's idea is in here, and please don't get angry if the idea seems dumb.-sweatdrop- My sister and I used to do what it is when we were little and it fit with the way BB discovers something here. You can be embarrassed for me though…

**Chapter Twelve: Discovery**

In no time, Cyborg hopped out of the T-Car and opened the door for Beast Boy.

"Hey, thanks Cy—" he started, but was cut off when Cyborg pulled him out and dragged him to Raven's room. "Ya'll may be too old for this, but I just thought of something you and Raven could do," he said to the changeling, as they went down the hallway. "I don't mean to be moralistic or anything, but just because you two are different doesn't mean you can't hang out...book or no book."

Cyborg pounded on Raven's door and Raven, who was lying on her bed, turned to face the door. What did he want now?

"Raven, it's Cyborg," Cyborg called from the door. "I know you're feeling a little sick today, but I got something planned for you to do."

_Cyborg's at my door? That's rare_. Raven hopped off of her bed and opened the door to see both Cyborg and Beast Boy. "I'm not feeling good, remember?" Raven told them at the sight of Beast Boy, although she felt a lot better.

Cyborg shook his head. "Just because you're a little sick doesn't mean you can't have fun."

Raven raised her eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Cyborg pulled Raven next to Beast Boy, so he could face both of them, and speak to them at the same time.

"Well, since your book is missing, I thought I'd have you to do something else for a change."

Raven looked down. _Missing book, huh? Beast Boy probably told Cyborg because he still believes that it's missing..._ She felt a little guilty, until Beast Boy, who looked eager, spoke. "Well?"

"I don't know if I should tell you know or later," Cyborg grinned. "But I guess I'll tell ya now, 'cause I'm wasting time. You know that board game called _Don't Wake Daddy_? Well, when I was sick, my mother and I used to play to game in real life."

"Are you sure you want to play a game that reminds you of her?" Raven softly asked. Cyborg was such a good friend, but he sure didn't talk about his mother often, even if it was for his friends.

"It's ok, Rae. Anyway, it's kind of like a two player game, so I'll be the judge if anything goes wrong. Now, the sick person would lie on the bed and the other would start by standing at their room door. They would try to walk around the whole room—covering every inch—and get to the other side without waking the sick person. While doing so they have to tuck the sick person in. If the healthy player makes a sound—and I don't mean breathing—then the sick person has to say, "Don't wake Daddy…or whatever their name is. You don't have to get out of your bed Raven, and Beast Boy can prance around your room…since you don't mind him doing so lately."

When he was done, Raven and Beast Boy looked at each other, and Raven spoke.

"Interesting," she said to him. "I thought you were going to make us wash your car or something."

"That sounds like fun!" Beast Boy cried.

"Yeah, I think so too," Cyborg told him, while glowering at Raven, "But you're lucky that's not what I planned for you. I already told my idea so let's get started."

They went into Raven's room (Raven sighed, because Cyborg was right. She surely was letting too many people into her room these days) and Raven lied down on her bed. Beast Boy walked back towards the door and when Cyborg said, "go", he started to walk through the room.

Raven's room was fairly clean, so that made it easy for Beast Boy to walk through. He walked over to her bed and pulled her sheets up. Beast Boy's stomach turned at actually seeing Raven sleeping…or fake sleeping. It was still strange to see her this way. When he finished and made it to the other side without waking Raven up, he whooped.

"Your turn Raven," he happily said.

"Hey, now. She can't get out of bed, she's sick," Cyborg told him. "And you can't lie on her bed either."

"So how is Raven having fun?" Beast Boy asked.

"I get to yell at you for waking me up," Raven said, "Sounds pretty fun to me."

After a couple of more rounds Beast Boy got tired of it. He even tried to wake Raven up, since it was so easy to get through her room. He opened a drawer for sounds effects and laughed when Raven twitched. He looked down at the drawer while laughing, and gasped at what he saw. The book!

"Don't wake Raven!" Raven shouted, and Beast Boy quickly shut the drawer. He hoped that she only heard him and didn't see him.

"Finally. I was about to make us move to BB's room because it's more challenging (Raven got a look of horror on her face as Cyborg said this), but I'm hungry. You two want some food?"

The two nodded and went with Cyborg to the kitchen. They sat in the common room and ate a little.

In the middle of their eating, Beast Boy casually looked over at Raven. _Why is she hiding the book?_ He thought, maybe she would say something about it, and if she didn't, he would.

"I'm sorry I didn't find the book, Raven," he said, with a tone that made Raven suspicious. "Maybe we'll see it another day."

"Yeah," Raven mumbled, and avoided his eyes. "I don't feel well again," she said. One of the main things she hated to do was act sick, and she was doing it now. "I'm going to bed."

"Have a nice sleep," Cyborg said to her. "I hope you had fun."

"Yeah, bye," Beast Boy mumbled. He was definitely going to get that book…and clear things up with Raven.

After a moment, Cyborg said, "I think I'm going to bed too." He waved to Beast Boy, and Robin and Starfire who had both entered and went to different directions in a frustrated manner. They seemed to want to rest too.

Beast Boy however, didn't. He watched TV for a while, to use up some time. Then, when about an hour passed, he went to where the Titans' rooms were located.

Beast Boy turned into a spider and crawled down the hallway. Once he found the right room, Raven's, he crawled under the door. Thankfully when he got in there Raven was already asleep. He just hoped that she was a deep sleeper.

Beast Boy crawled over to her dresser and changed back into a human. He slowly pulled open the drawer and like he saw earlier, the book laid there. He tried to open the book, and it did not. "What the—"

He tried prying more on the book. He wasn't sure if turning into a big animal such as a gorilla to open it would be a good idea, because it could wake Raven up, so he unfortunately had to stay in his human form.

_What's going on here?_ "Come on...open you stupid thing. You never gave Raven any trouble," he muttered. "What do I have to say? Please?"

The book did not budge.

"Abracadabra? Open sesame?" Once again the book did not open.

_Open sesame?_ Beast Boy thought. "Open sesame," he said slowly. He listened to it as he said it. _It sounds like real words…_

"Open, says me!" he finally cried, and the book opened to the very last page. Beast Boy gave all the restraint he had not to cheer and flipped to the page before the last. Apparently, it was right where he and Raven left off...which was supposed to be the middle of the book. It did not look like the pages were ripped out, and it looked good as new. Beast Boy's brow furrowed. _So this is where it ends?_ He sadly thought.

He examined the text closely. It looked like common handwriting as it did before, but this time he was sure that it was common handwriting. It actually looked like a regular empty book, with the space filled up.

Beast Boy's stomach did a back flip. She couldn't have...could she?

But it all made sense. The incidents between Darcy and Lorenzo and he and Raven were not just a coincidence. The author seemed to do it on purpose. And whatever they wrote between Darcy and Lorenzo came to be between him and Raven...

He heard a creak and Raven sat up on her bed abruptly. She glanced around the room furiously and her eyes laid on him, filled with shock, anger, and fear. At first she was lost for words, but seconds later she spoke.

"Put. It. Down!"

Before Beast Boy could say anything, she flew out of bed and snatched the book from him. "Why are you looking through my stuff?"

Beast Boy gave a small laugh. "I—I saw the book in there and—"

Raven didn't think it was funny at all. "And you decided to sneak in and take it," Raven said coldly to him. "And read it," she added. She then clutched the book against her chest. She didn't even want to think about what he had just figured out.

"Get out," she commanded, in a whisper like way.

Beast Boy did not respond and quickly scrambled out of Raven's room, his heart pounding. His thoughts were so scrambled, that he didn't know what to think of first. The fact that Raven had yelled at him for the first time in a long time, or that he truly knew why Raven was hiding the book.

He ran into his room before anyone else woke up and questioned him, and plopped down on his bed. He needed to sleep on this.

His stomach lurched in anxiety.

Or not.

* * *

**A/N:** Yep, the game was based on the game "Don't Wake Daddy" created by the Milton Bradley company. Heh... anyway, believe it or not, this was the last chapter I wrote! I actually didn't write the story in order…chapters 17 and 18 were written right after chapter one. Just a fun fact. Thanks for reading, and please review!

Oh yeah...and I remember someone predicting that, "BB would be a retard and piss off Raven". I told them that wouldn't happen in responding to their review, but I forgot about the scene that just happened. XD So they were right after all. :)


	13. Change

**A/N: **Sorry to anyone who thought that last chapter was the very last one. Of course it wasn't! There are six more (including this one). Thank you all for reviewing.

**Chapter Thirteen: Change**

When Starfire had gotten home from school weeks, it was clear to her that Robin did not seem in the right mood to spend time with her. He seemed to be that way in a while anyway. She was proved wrong when he helped her with her homework, but after that he went elsewhere, leaving Starfire alone for the rest of the day.

Instead of lingering on Robin, Starfire decided to go rest after finishing her duties, but upon trying to do so it was hard for her to go to sleep. She wondered if Robin was angry about the other day, although she should have been the offended one. He didn't seem angry with her since he helped her with her homework after all, but he didn't talk much. Starfire sighed and got out of bed. She realized that she hadn't talked to the other female Titan in a while, so she decided to check out what she was up to...if Beast Boy wasn't there.

Moments later Starfire knocked on the other girl's door about the same time Raven opened it. She opened it abruptly, as if she was expecting someone, but Starfire disregarded it. She was more interested in the look on Raven's face. She looked at her with a small surprise, and a hint of disappointment.

"Haven't seen you in a while," she simply said. "Where's Robin?"

Starfire shrugged. "He is elsewhere this afternoon."

"Please don't tell me you got into an argument," Raven groaned.

To Raven's relief, Starfire shook her head. "It seems that he does not wish to spend the afternoon with me. That is all." Starfire clung on to her elbow and continued, "I was wondering if you would like to do the hanging out...if you are not already doing so with Beast Boy."

Raven's heart leapt at 'If you are not doing so with Beast Boy.' Was she really spending that much time with him? Instead of thinking about it, Raven responded, "He's actually not here for once."

Starfire looked down. "Oh…well, I was wondering if you would like to commence reading that book with me."

Raven raised her eyebrow. "Why?"

Starfire sighed. "I feel like I have not spent much time with my fellow Titans. Besides, you and Beast Boy seem to have so much fun reading it and I would like to read it as well. He speaks most fondly of you and that novel."

While still lingering on Starfire's last words, Raven was able to catch the next things that she had added. "I would also like to practice my speaking by reading with you...if you do not mind."

Without spending more time at the door, Raven motioned for Starfire to follow her to the windowsill. She grabbed the book from the drawer where it was placed again during the night when she had confiscated it, and after they both sat down they began reading from the beginning.

This being about Raven's twentieth time reading the book from the start, she wasn't as interested in it, and even though it was Starfire's first time, apparently she wasn't as well.

Once Raven finished the first chapter the alien stopped her.

"Raven...may I ask you a question?"

Raven nodded and tried to keep down a groan. "What is it?"

"I—I am considering quitting my English classes," Starfire whispered as if someone else were in the room with them. The thought had been on her chest since the conversation with Robin the other day, and she had to tell _someone._

Raven's eyes slightly widened. "I thought you liked those classes…why?"

"I do not feel as free anymore…if you wish to call it that. I have very much work to do, and although I do not being called weak, I regret leaving my friends at home without me."

Raven pondered on this. _Who is she leaving home without her?_ Cyborg, Beast Boy, and she had seemed fine with Starfire's schooling, and apparently Robin was fine too. However, not a moment more passed when Raven knew who she was talking about.

"Robin's fine," she told the other girl. "You don't need to worry about him."

"He did not seem fine to me," Starfire said softly. "He had to arrange a day out for us so he was able to talk to me. He mentioned that he did not have much to do at the tower as well. I cannot help but feel the guilt."

Raven did not reply, and Starfire went on. "But I also believe that his loneliness is affecting his judgment for others. He does not seem to like my teacher, yet she is a wonderful woman."

"What did he say?" Raven asked, half knowing the answer.

"He said I needed to stop with, _'This learning more English nonsense.'_"

Raven said nothing. She expected for Robin to say something stupid like that sooner or later, but she just needed a way to figure out how to explain Robin's comment to Starfire.

While Raven did this, they sat in silence and the Tameranian mused over the situation to herself. She glared over the ocean that rested outside of Raven's room window, and also stared at the city beyond it. There was so much in the city that she was missing out on before she started classes, and the field trips proved that. She wanted Robin to be happy by staying home, but she did not like the fact that he insulted her teacher. As a matter of fact, he himself claimed that he wanted her to be happy as well, yet he was "whining" over the fact that he missed her.

_Robin is so selfish these days_, a voice said in her head. _He wishes for everyone to fulfill his desires yet he claims that he wants everyone happy._

Starfire gasped at her thought, and Raven looked at her strangely. Starfire shook her head furiously. She knew it was okay for her to take those classes…she was determined to, just like Robin was determined to make a better team out of training.

A banging on the door sounded right after Starfire gasped and Raven decided to answer it before seeing what was up with the other female Titan.

And of course, it was Beast Boy. Raven wondered how many times he had showed up at her door in the past few weeks. It was a lot, that's for sure. They hadn't talked to each other for a while since Raven had not wanted to read the book anymore, but he knocked on her door asking her to.

He seemed apprehensive and nervous about coming to her door this time though. Raven wondered if he was still bothered about the other night when she yelled at him, but if he was he would had left her alone. What he wanted to say was something he obviously wanted to get over with, and Raven let him speak. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out again," he breathed. "It was pretty fun that other day."

Raven found herself nodding. It sure was fun…but had he forgotten that she yelled at him?

"Raven?" they heard Starfire call from behind them.

Beast Boy peeked through the door behind Raven and glanced at Starfire sitting on the windowsill. He gave a slight frown. "What's Starfire doing there?" he curiously asked.

"The same thing you were doing here...why?" Raven responded.

Beast Boy didn't answer her, and Starfire walked up to the door while holding the book. Raven moaned and took it from her. Great…it was back to looking at the strange book with Beast Boy again.

"You've been reading that?" Beast Boy suspiciously asked them.

"Yes, but only one chapter," Starfire sighed. She yawned after doing so. "I must be getting to sleep…I have much on my mind. She waved to the others and went to her room, leaving them staring at each other.

"I didn't know you were reading that with anyone else," Beast Boy mumbled.

"Well, it is my book," Raven sarcastically said, and Beast Boy's face fell. He didn't seem to be in the mood for her sarcastic quips.

Raven's face fell as well since she didn't mean to upset him. "What's wrong?"

Beast Boy muttered, "I—I just thought we were the only ones reading that."

She could understand why he would be a little upset that Starfire was able to see the book as well. After all, it was becoming their own little story.

"She asked for me to read it to her," Raven explained. "I couldn't just say no to her. Starfire is a friend too."

Beast Boy forced a smile. "I guess I overreacted…maybe we can read it alone another time? I'm…feeling a little drowsy."

"Ok," Raven said, while raising her eyebrow. One would think it was strange that Beast Boy wanted to read the book alone with her. But as Raven wished him goodnight, she could already see why.

If he could see the similarities between the characters in the book and themselves, then Starfire would most definitely would. Raven's cheeks slightly reddened at the thought of Starfire pointing it out. She'd probably think something ridiculous, such as them being in love or something.

Raven sighed. "Yeah…that'd be pretty stupid," she halfheartedly mumbled to herself.

oOo

The whole tower seemed to be asleep when Robin was sitting at his desk thinking, as he had done many weeks before. The moment seemed to be a bad case of déja-vu, since he intended to speak to Cyborg again as well.

In no time Cyborg let himself inside. "What is it this time?" he teased.

"It's about the outings," Robin said to him.

"...what about them?"

"They—I just don't think they're a good idea anymore," Robin quickly said to him.

"Because we're the only ones who usually go now?" Cyborg asked, with a smug smile plastered on his face. Most of the team had chosen to stay home, even if they had gone to practice.

"That's one thing. It's not like I don't like hanging out with you, because it's fun to hang out as guys...but it seems pointless when more than half the team isn't there," Robin said grimly.

_About time he figured that out_, Cyborg thought. "So what are you going to do?" he asked.

"We might just get rid of them."

"I figured you would say that," Cyborg responded.

"Good. I mean, Raven and Beast Boy have left the tower while we were gone before, you and Beast Boy have left sometimes, and I've even gone out with Starfire when it wasn't even outing night."

Cyborg produced a questioning look on his face. "When was this?"

"A few days ago." Robin thought over what he had said once again. Once he thought about the outing night plan once again, he realized that it was pretty pointless. For one thing, as Raven had mentioned, nothing was keeping anyone from leaving the tower whenever they wanted to. "I've changed my mind," he mumbled, "Let's just get rid of them after all."

Cyborg blinked. "Wait a minute...you went on an 'outing' with Starfire alone?"

Robin turned to face him. "Yeah, what are you getting at?"

"Well, I didn't know you were up to asking Star on a date," Cyborg laughed.

"It wasn't a date." Robin reddened and continued, "Look, that's not the subject. The outings are cancelled and that's all I needed to say to you."

Cyborg snickered.

"Good night, Cyborg."

"Night."

* * *

**A/N: **Heh…the next chapter is one that I guess could be called filler. It's the resolution to Robin and Starfire's conflict and I had to do that someway (besides, it took up the whole freaking chapter). Since most of you are obviously Beast Boy and Raven fans reading this it'd probably be boring to you. Don't worry! They are still the stars of the story and the rest of the story definitely makes up for that.


	14. Resolution

**A/N: **Well right before I was about to post this chapter, I checked my stats and found out that this story has more than 10,000 hits now. Yay! Thanks for the reviews as well. Now, here's the all Rob/Star chapter.

**Chapter Fourteen: Resolution**

When Robin and Starfire both woke up the next morning, they were not surprised to see each other both in the kitchen. They had both wanted to see each other apparently. It was as if one was waiting for the other, and despite their disagreements, they were just fine with that.

After a moment of chatting about misconceptions, they were soon facing each other from a few feet, and a look of uncertainty was etched across both of their faces. Starfire guilty looked down as Robin took her free hand in his. His action caused her to look up at him, and neither had noticed that both of their soft breathing had become faster.

"What else do you do there anyway?" he asked about the class. His voice seemed to be the only sound in the room, "You know, besides learning about how great your teacher is."

Starfire sighed at his last remark. "If you insist to know everything, then I shall tell you. Along with the English language we practice many other languages sometimes, and on our weekly field trips we observe human communication."

Robin blinked. "Sounds like fun."

"Yes, it is," Starfire murmured.

He moved closer to her, and Starfire jumped. He didn't seem fazed at all by what he was doing, and this piqued her curiosity on what he was getting to.

"Well, you don't look like you have that much fun," Robin pointed out to her.

"That is because I am tired and it is early in the morning. Robin, we have been through this before. I have to go to school now, please." She avoided his eyes again and continued, "I have been in class for many weeks and I have been fine each day. Miss Angles will take good care of me and the other students."

Robin shrugged. "Well, if it's okay with you, I'd like to see her for myself today."

Starfire's eyes widened as she stared at the floor. All of these weeks he had wanted her to stay home with him, and now he wanted to follow her to school? "What about your own training schedule?" she asked him, with true surprise, "Is it not important to you anymore?"

Robin grinned to himself. He had forgotten to mention to her that the training sessions were not as consistent anymore, meaning that the outings would not be either as well. Although the outings were supposed to be fun, the fact that they were gone took a whole load off of his chest.

"These lessons are obviously important to you," he answered her; "I'd like to see what they're all about. Besides, I've realized that I'm a little more concerned about your feelings than that schedule."

"Ok." Starfire nodded.

"I'll leave a note for the others, telling them that training's cancelled for the day," he told her, so hold on a little more, ok?"

_Besides, I've realized that I'm a little more concerned about your feelings than that schedule. _

Robin attempted to let go of her hand, but she tugged on it. Warm and sweaty as his hand and hers were, she would not let go. Not at this moment at least.

"Um…yeah?" Robin responded to her reaction.

Starfire flew a tad closer to her friend. If Robin could make a romantic gesture after the events between them in the past few weeks, then so could she. She dropped her book, and took his other free hand. Without hesitation, she lightly kissed him on the cheek. The small moment had seemed like minutes, although it was not. And now Robin was fazed; she hadn't done something like that in a long time.

"Thank you for caring for me," Starfire told him, glowing. She let go of his hand and picked up her schoolbook.

"No problem," he muttered. They stared at each other as they often did, while waiting for the other to say more. It wasn't long until they came to the conclusion that no more needed to be said. A short moment had passed when Robin seemed to register that she gave him a small kiss, and his face had reddened. He started his trip towards the gym once again, while muttering to himself, "Now, where can I find some paper…?"

Starfire stifled a laugh. They seemed to be back to normal.

oOo

"Fly or ride, Starfire?" Robin asked, once they had left the tower, "Although I don't know why you'd want to do either, since you'd probably be early either way."

"It does not matter," Starfire said to him.

"Well, let's walk then. The class doesn't even start until seven, and it is 6:00 right now. It's not that far away anyway," he told her, while zipping up his jacket. "How about you just fly us over the water, and then when we're over it we can start walking. It's a nice morning to do that."

Starfire, who was apprehensive at first, agreed. "I believe that is a good idea. I suppose going early to school will have to wait for today."

Robin grinned at her and upon his doing so, Starfire flew over the water.

Once they landed, they walked side by side through the city. Most of the citizens were still asleep, so it was easy for them to walk through. It wasn't as chilly as they were expecting, so Robin regretting taking his jacket and unzipped it. Starfire seemed to be enjoying herself as well.

"I bet you don't care about being 'late' to class now," he teased.

Starfire put on stern face, while trying to hide a smile. "I do now."

"So why do you like coming to class so early anyway?" he asked her. "Most kids wouldn't want to do that."

"Well, I would. I enjoy helping Miss Angles prepare for the school day. And the reason I come to class so early, is the same reason you go to the gym so early."

Robin looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I enjoy school, and you enjoy training. It is no surprise that we go to both events at an early time."

"Since when did I like training?" Robin slyly asked.

"Since you have been a 'workaholic'," Starfire giggled, mimicking Beast Boy's words from many weeks before.

"That's not very nice," Robin grinned. "I thought you were learning how to compliment people and be polite in that class of yours."

Starfire stopped walking and stood in front of him. "We do. I still have time not to be extremely late, so I will give you an example." She touched the outside of his jacket, as if she were admiring it. I like your jacket, Robin. It is very…tasteful."

Robin gave an affectionate smile. He didn't care if he was going to act goofy with her, so he played along. "Thanks. I like your outfit too Starfire. You look like a little school girl."

"That is a good thing?" Starfire asked, confused.

"Well, at least I think so. I like your shirt…and skirt..."

"Thank you," Starfire blushed.

"Your collar needs to be fixed though. I think you've been wearing it wrong all of this time."

Sure enough, Robin was right. The collar to her uniform shirt had always stuck up and covered her whole neck. He reached around her neck and fixed it. "There."

"You did not have to do that," Starfire quietly said.

"Yeah, well...this teacher of yours sounds strict...and I wanted to fix it."

"Well, what if I wished to fix your hair?" Starfire asked, while flattening his sticking up strands of hair. They stuck up as he had just awakened recently, and Robin shyly rubbed the backside of his neck. "Er…you didn't have to do that either."

An awkward silence passed between them. Robin stuck his hands in his pockets a moment after they started walking again. _What should they talk about now? _He thought to himself.

"The weather," he said, quickly. "It's nice today."

"I did not know you were fond of the morning weather," Starfire said to him.

"Yeah...well."

The wind blew, and Robin shivered. He then began to regret that he unzipped his jacket. He reached for the zipper to unzip it, but he looked up to see Starfire coming towards him instead. "You're cold," she told him. She zipped the rest of the jacket up for him as Robin froze. She did not let go of the zipper and they stared at each other for a moment.

Starfire spoke again, barely moving. "You did not wish for me to do that, did you?"

"It was helpful," Robin muttered. "Most people don't usually zip up each other's coats…unless they're parents doing it to kids." He gave a small nervous laugh.

She looked a little embarrassed, and Robin wished he had not said that. He put his hand on hers that was still on the zipper, and put it over hers.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I shouldn't have said that…You were just making sure I wasn't cold…I mean, I'm the one who fixed your collar just a moment ago."

Starfire gave a weak smile.

Robin did not let go of her hand still, and Starfire did not budge either. For the moment, he didn't know what he was thinking. His hand first began to move down around her waist. He leaned closer to her face and she hesitantly closed her eyes. It was after this when his lips touched hers when he was fully aware of what was going on.

He closed his eyes under his mask as well, while they both stayed in the same position. Robin wasn't surprised that Starfire's lips were warm, since she wasn't even cold in the first place. Her whole body was warm and he began to feel more comfortable near her than he had a few moments before.

Starfire was the first to break the kiss. She flushed after seeing Robin's confused face, and explained to him.

"The reason for that is not what you think," she said, while smiling. "It is just because I am really getting late to class, and this time is for sure."

She pointed to the clock on the church nearby and Robin's stomach jostled. Without asking the usual, he took her hand and Starfire flew the rest of the way to their destination, with no problem at all.

* * *

**A/N: **I hate writing kiss scenes, but I hope I did okay. This is another chapter I don't really like. XD The next chapter has Raven and Beast Boy for the most part and a surprise person…Meh, I was going to put something else here but I forgot. Thanks for reading!


	15. Creator

**AN: **Thank you all for reviewing. I find it strange that so many people think the surprise person is Terra. It's definitely not her. Anyway, a reviewing asked a question a couple of chapters back about Raven and the book, and they get their answer here. :)

**Chapter Fifteen: Creator**

Being the first one to awake out of the remaining Titans at the tower, Cyborg was naturally the first one to arrive at the gym. He yawned and was in the middle of punching in the code to the gym, but immediately stopped when he noticed a note on the door.

_-Hey team, _

_This morning I decided to go with Starfire with school today, so I won't be back for a while. Since I'm gone training will have to be cancelled for the day. You don't have to make it up, so don't worry about that. _

_-Robin_

Cyborg rubbed his eyes and blinked. He assumed that he was dreaming since he had had many dreams that included this type of moment, and because what he had just read seemed too good to be true. Robin wouldn't have cancelled training unless it was some emergency, and if there was an emergency he would have alerted Cyborg and the others about it, no doubt.

While Cyborg was at the point of scanning the note with his arm to see if Robin really wrote it, Raven was the next to come to the gym. She gave Cyborg a funny look and read the note on the door for herself. While she read did so, Beast Boy gloomily dragged himself to the gym.

"What's that?" he groggily asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Training's cancelled," Cyborg simply said, with a sly smile on his face. He pressed a button on his arm, confirming that the scanning was finished.

Beast Boy's eyes widened, fully waking him up. "It is?" he then gave an alert look to his best friend and spoke again, "Or is it April Fool's Day already? If it is, I can't believe I forgot! I'd never forget that…"

"No, man. It's really cancelled! And I don't know about you, but I have no complaints about that. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to do in the kitchen...that kind of deals with eating." Cyborg hurriedly rushed to the kitchen, beaming.

Raven and Beast Boy watched him run off, and then stared at each other.

"So what are you going to do with your extra free time?" Beast Boy asked her. "The good news is true."

"I'm going on a walk," Raven told him. "I really don't feel like reading that book today."

"Can I come?" Beast Boy asked her, not a minute later.

Raven froze. A part of her mind screamed, _No! Remember what people will think if they see you alone with him!_ And another, more compromising argued, _Who cares? You already went to the arcade alone with him. The people can think what they want; they don't matter to me._

Raven decided the second voice was right. The timid in her head really needed to get a grip sometimes.

"Ok," Raven softly said. "...and I'll take my book, just in case we get bored."

"A change of heart?" Beast Boy directed to her last comment.

Raven shook her head. She just wanted to keep it in her sight at all times. There was no telling what would happen if it got into the wrong hands.

So, after eating a little breakfast and telling Cyborg goodbye, the two Titans headed out of the tower for the morning.

"So...where are we walking to?" Beast Boy asked. "And why don't you fly? It's easier...and you don't have to move as fast."

_Good old lazy Beast Boy._ "Well I said I was taking a walk, didn't I? We're going to the park."

"I thought you didn't want to be seen with me at the park."

Raven stopped walking. She didn't remember saying that directly to him. "Who told you that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know...I just figured that. Besides, Darcy never usually wanted to be seen with Lorenzo."

"What do they have to do with us?" Raven curiously asked him.

"I dunno...I just always thought Darcy and Lorenzo were a lot like us."

Raven walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. Beast Boy almost did the same, but when she glared at him he decided not to.

"They are nothing like us," she firmly said, wishing that the conversation was never brought up. "You're probably just imagining things."

"But I'm not!" Beast Boy protested. "I've been thinking about this lately, and I've wanted to talk to you about it. Almost everything we've done recently have been something that are just like things Darcy and Lorenzo have done."

Raven agreed with him inside, but she didn't want to think about it. That observation was the reason that she had lost interest in the book in the first place. It was the reason that she hid it, so that nothing else between them would happen. The book began to scare her. Besides, the things Darcy could do, she could never do.

But, she couldn't lie to the little green guy forever. Someone had to tell him that he wasn't crazy, or a victim of wishful thinking.

"Alright," she said sighed. "I agree with you and I think it is strange. I just don't know if it's intended or not," Raven added while looking down.

"Is that why you hid the book?" Beast Boy quietly asked, and Raven nodded.

Beast Boy sat down to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure the author knew _exactly_ what they were writing."

As if on cue, a tall figure slowly appeared behind a nearby light pole. They seemed to be as thin as the pole at first, and then their slender body extended out, as if they were doing a trick. Beast Boy and Raven had not noticed this yet however, but nearby screaming had gotten their attention.

The two Titans looked up to see a blue skinned, white haired familiar magician before them. He dusted off his black suit haughtily and smirked at them.

"I agree with the boy," he said. "The author _definitely_ knew what they were writing. We can ask her right now."

He took his wand and it transformed into a giant hand, reaching for Raven. She dropped the book and dodged the hand.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

A black glow wrapped around the glove and it was tossed aside. The hand turned back into a wand, and fell to the grass nearby.

"I see you still have your skill," Mumbo replied, glaring at Raven. "We'll see who the better magician is this time."

Like Raven, Beast Boy didn't even stop to think that they had a real villain on their hands for the first time in a long time. He may not have been the brightest person, but he was smart enough to destroy what fueled Mumbo's power. He turned into an elephant and charged towards the wand on the ground. He stomped on it repeatedly and when he was done he grinned at Mumbo. "Fight's over, Mumbo."

Mumbo grinned right back at him. "I forgot to mention that I have many spare wands; that was merely an old one." He turned to Raven in glee, "But enough of the fighting, I just want to laugh at the Titan who happened to test out my book."

Knowing that she didn't want to hear more, Raven tried to knock the villain out, once again. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she cried, and the bench she once sat on flew up. It hit Mumbo on the face, and he suddenly fell back. He quickly recovered and got back up and a new wand appeared from under his glove. "Shut your mouth," he said pointing it towards Raven, and her mouth zipped up. Mumbo turned to Beast Boy who was now behind him, charging as a bull, and put a wall right in front of the unsuspecting Titan.

"I'd advise you to not even try to fight me. I might receive help anyway," he said to both of them. To Raven personally, he continued. "Don't try to hide the truth. Obviously he knows you wrote the story."

Beast Boy turned back into a human and held his head. _So what?_ he thought, but had too much of a headache to say.

"The story is quite funny, and I didn't even mean for it to happen to you! I know everything that happened. You see, everything you wrote in that book seemed to be just a harmless story, but once you found out that everything you wrote would come true between whoever was similar to the characters, you took advantage of it. I know you made Darcy and Lorenzo all lovey-dovey because you wanted too be like them. I also know that you didn't make Lorenzo's personality like this green fool's on purpose. It was an accident I believe, and he ended up acting just like him."

Beast Boy scowled and Raven's face fell. Mumbo was right with that, but she didn't regret that mistake—not one bit.

Mumbo continued, ignored both of the Titan's reactions. "You wanted your life to be just like your characters and got your wish. Too bad you couldn't keep it a secret any longer. Once the green one found out about you writing it I decided to reveal what was going on. I'm starting to think I shouldn't have...just for more laughs."

"What do you mean you didn't mean for it to happen to her?" Beast Boy growled, while still holding his head. "And so what if Raven wrote the book? It was a very good book, and I liked it. I enjoyed Lorenzo being like me even if it was an accident."

Mumbo laughed, "I swapped some items from various shops with my own creations, and this happened to include the bookstore. I didn't think someone would actually write a character based on their own self! And your speech is very sweet by the way…but it doesn't change the way I feel."

The changeling ignored his last remark. "How did you get out of the ice in Paris?" he asked. "…Along with the other villains?"

Mumbo's grin widened. "Let's just say, I got a little help."

* * *

**A/N: **Hehe, I bet a lot of people thought my story was pointless fluff with no fighting or "plot", but that's wrong. There's another fight scene, a couple of chapters later. 


	16. Magic

**A/N: **Sorry if that last chapter was a little confusing to some of you. I guess it wasn't to me because I knew what was going on in my head. XD Also, it's great that some of you figured out that Raven wrote the book (it was somewhat supposed to be evident during chapter twelve).

Now, a reviewer (not telling who…they'll probably be proud of them self) guessed what was going to happen in this chapter _way_ in the beginning of the story. I think I know how they figured it out so quickly. I was a little disappointed, but oh well. Thanks for reviewing!

**Chapter Sixteen: Magic**

"You're late," was the first thing Miss Angles said to her. From Starfire's stories about her, Robin expected her to smile and greet Starfire as if she were her greatest student ever. The teacher was smiling however, but it wasn't a friendly one.

"I'm sorry," Starfire told her. "I was preoccupied with something else." During this statement, Robin noticed that Starfire had learned to use contractions, but only used them in her teacher's presence. She looked at Robin as she did so and he suddenly understood why. She didn't want to completely change when around him. And that was a drastic change.

"Something more important than class?" Miss Angles asked Starfire, astonished.

"No, Miss Angles...I—"

The teacher then cut her off and looked at Robin. "Who is this?" she asked Starfire, lazily. Apparently she had little interest in him.

Starfire beamed. "This is my friend, Robin! He was nice enough to accompany me to school today."

"And I'm guessing that he is the reason you're late?" Miss Angles asked.

"Um..."

"Yes," Robin told the teacher and he stepped forward. "I'm sorry about that."

"Well, you caused Koriand'r to miss the fieldtrip the other students and volunteers are on today. While you were out 'being late' the others have gone to the city zoo for the day." She then faced Starfire, "You could have gone dear, but you must stay here now. Those are the consequences."

Robin looked over to see if Starfire was upset, but she wasn't fazed in the slightest.

"You will have to do extra work today," Miss Angles told Starfire.

"You can't make her do that," Robin blurted out. "I said it was my fault she's late."

"It's for the best," the teacher said, with a twinkle in her eye.

_It's for the best._ Robin was sick of hearing that statement, even from his own mouth. In the past few weeks, every time those words were said it wasn't for the best, and right now, it was not for the best for a student to miss out on a great time because of him.

"Starfire," he said, "You like going to the zoo. Don't you want to go?"

She sure did. "I—yes, I do."

"Do not disobey your teacher," Miss Angles said. "Now stop chatting and get to work."

"Please let me go to the zoo," Starfire said. "I have already learned very much."

"You know the consequences and you are testing my patience. Now sit please."

Without much of a choice, Starfire sat at an empty desk, despite Robin's persistence. She sadly shrugged and opened her book to wait for instructions. "Open your book to page 404 and do exercises 5, 6, and 7," Miss Angles said.

oOo

Apparently, Beast Boy didn't want to know who Mumbo's help was. He turned into a frog, and small as it was its tongue wasn't. He leaped up and stretched out his tongue, grabbing the second produced wand. He snapped it in half with his tongue, and although it hurt very much Beast Boy was satisfied. Raven's mouth unzipped, and she reached for her communicator to call Cyborg.

Mumbo paid no attention to her. "Fool, haven't you noticed that I can make other wands?" he asked. "It's a shame you weren't the one who ended up with the book, because it would have surely been much funnier."

Raven tried hitting Mumbo with the bench again with her powers, and he groaned at her attempt. He produced yet another wand and many different items flew out of it. Raven blocked the majority of it with her powers, and Beast Boy helped by turning into a gorilla and crushing them through his fists. Soon however, the two were buried in a pile of miscellaneous objects.

Mumbo kissed his wand, while holding it out before himself triumphantly. A blue light came from behind him and it exploded.

"Boo-Yah!" Mumbo heard behind him. He had forgotten all about the other Titans for a moment. Cyborg threw a punch at the villain, before he could pull another wand from his sleeve. Cyborg's eyes darted around as he searched for the other Titans.

"Will you stop breaking my wand!" Mumbo cried to the half metal man. He dodged Cyborg's punch as he shouted, and ignored Raven and Beast Boy who were nearly finished pushing themselves through the items. "Someone out there could be affected by all this damage—"

"Like me?" Raven muttered. "If I could deal with your screwed up powers for the past few weeks," she said while finally climbing out, "Then so can anyone else."

oOo

Robin glared at the teacher while Starfire quietly worked for a long time. Starfire was wrong. Miss Angles was not friendly at all. Robin wasn't sure if it was just Starfire's definition of 'friendly', or the fact that Starfire was late that made the teacher so rash. He knew Starfire wasn't stupid. She'd know an evil woman when she saw one.

As Robin stared at her some more, he noticed a bump appear on the teacher's nose. He leaned closer to see if he really saw what had just happened. The bump began to grow larger and larger after each moment and while doing so her face tinted to a familiar green. Starfire was now looking up at her teacher in awe.

The number of eyes on her face multiplied next. Miss Angles' body expanded, and her neatly ironed dress tore in half. To Robin's relief, she was wearing something under the ripped dress, and she wore a blue apron. The teacher looked smugly at them.

She wasn't even finished her transformation when both Robin and Starfire simultaneously shouted, "Mother May-Eye!"

Mother frowned and looked at her appearance in the window. "Oh, poo. Someone must be meddling with Mumbo's wand," she said. "Mother will be back soon, children."

Mother May-Eye quickly flew out of the room and Robin and Starfire took no time to start following her with the same pace. As soon as they were out of the room, Starfire took Robin's hands in her own to carry him while she flew. Robin let go of one of her hands and reached in his utility belt for something to throw. He retrieved a bird-a-rang and threw it at the woman. Unfortunately it bounced off of her and nearly hit Starfire's head. Starfire didn't seem too upset about that because she had other things on her mind.

"I do not believe this," she said softly. "How could I have been fooled?"

"I would have been fooled too," Robin said, still astonished over the transformation. "Don't worry about it."

"You were right about the classes Robin," Starfire told him, and she landed while pulling Robin with her. "I feel so...stupid."

"But you're not," Robin said, "You wanted to be better at English, and you took advantage of it. I shouldn't have tried to stop you in the first place."

"And I shouldn't have tried to stop you from training our team."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked, trying to concentrate on his target before him. He had felt guilty about the training schedule since the first day when Beast Boy couldn't go to the movies.

"All of that training must have been able to prepare us to fight the Mother May-Eye...and I believe _Mumbo_ as well today. If we had not trained so well, our performance would merely be...mediocre," Starfire explained.

_Well, that made me feel better_, Robin thought to himself, truthfully. "I guess that's a good point Star. Now let's get going even faster. We need to call the others and we've also got some catching up to do...with two villains apparently."

* * *

**A/N: **Next chapter…big battle scene coming up! I like how it's all the Titans together fighting villains once again, after a long time. Oh yeah…there are three chapters left, including this one. So sad. :(


	17. Together

**A/N: **Happy 200 reviews, everyone! By the way, the 200th reviewer was Tammy Tamborine. Now, this is the second to last chapter. The Titans are fighting for most of the time here, but not the whole time.

PS: Yes Kara, I like Avatar. :)

**Chapter Seventeen: Together**

By the time Robin and Starfire had caught up to Mother May-Eye, she was peacefully sitting on the grass at the park, knitting. Robin and Starfire exchanged confused looks and crept up to her.

Their sneaking was disrupted however, when a flying Cyborg came crashing down in front of them.

"Cyborg!" Robin exclaimed. "We didn't even call you yet. So you know about Mother May-Eye?"

"Mother May-Eye?" Cyborg asked as Starfire helped him up. "I got a call from Raven to help catch Mumbo."

"We know about Mumbo too," Robin told him, as he punched his fist into his other hand. "It's amazing. How did they both break free from Paris...and where are the other villains?"

"Don't use that word, dear," Mother May-Eye said to him peacefully, while smiling. "'Villains' is such a harsh adjective. They are still in Paris by the way...they were never good to Mother."

"What's Mumbo done that's been so good to you," Robin growled while grasping his utility belt. He tilted his head towards Mumbo who was still fighting Beast Boy and Raven on the other side of the park.

"He gave me a pie once upon a time," she simply said. "He said he fancied me. It was the best gift I could have ever gotten! So fresh, and so many people loved mother. When I finally managed my way out of the ice, I surely helped him."

Cyborg's eye twitched. "Well, you may be sweet, but not enough for me to like you." He pointed his sonic cannon towards her, when a large Mumbo stomped over to where they were. He held up a tied up Beats Boy and Raven.

"Don't hurt her!" he cried while shrinking back to size. Beast Boy turned into a rat and bit through the ropes and Raven struggled to get out as well. Once she did, Mumbo noticed her out of the corner of her eye and hit her with a wave of his glove.

Raven flew back and regained her balance quickly. She floated over Robin whose hand was still tightly gripping his utility belt. Beast Boy ran next to him, and went from a rat to a tiger, breathing hard. Starfire flew over the changeling, starbolts ready for action with her eyes glowing fiercely, and Cyborg stood in the center, his 'dusty' sonic cannon ready while he grinned. "It's about time we got some action."

"Titans GO!" Robin cried, as he took out his bo staff and leapt into the air. He kicked straight for Mumbo's face and Mumbo cried out, "Hitmenot!" Robin's kick backfired and nearly hit Starfire, who caught him. She shot her eyebeams which headed for both of the villains.

"That isn't very kind to do, Koriand'r. Humans are not aggressive," Mother May-Eye peacefully said. "And I thought you loved me."

"You sick woman," Starfire growled as her eyes still glowed. "You will not call me Koriand'r and I do NOT love you."

"None of us do," Raven added. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She pulled Mother May-Eye's bonnet over her eyes and she screamed, "How am I going to watch my children!"

Starfire set Robin and he went to help the others. "Raven, get the ropes you were tied in!" she said to her.

Starfire flipped Mother upside down by her feet as Raven retrieved the rope. "Ooh!" Mother cried, as her skirt flew down. "Bad children!"

Raven tied the rope around the villain's feet, as tightly as she could and the two girls exchanged a look of praise to one another.

Robin and Beast Boy headed for Mumbo, as Cyborg threw endless punches at him. "He's too busy looking at Cy," Beast Boy said, breathlessly. "We should get him from the back."

"Good idea," Robin agreed.

They charged towards the villain. Beast Boy turned into a rhino and rammed Mumbo down as soon as Cyborg moved out of the way. Robin leapt on the villains back and tugged on his hat.

"This thing has to pull down some more," he said to Cyborg and Beast Boy, "I've seen it happen before."

"Not to this magician!" Mumbo said, while standing back up. Robin tumbled off of his back and Cyborg caught him.

Raven, watching their difficult situation gasped. She felt like slapping herself as she had just figured out how to defeat the villains. "I have an idea!" the boys heard Raven shout, as she flew up to them. "Beast Boy, find the book! Go and write what happens to Mumbo in the book!"

"Where is it!" he called back, searching around, while avoiding Mumbo. The magician had gotten back up, and was fighting Robin and Cyborg once again.

"It's probably where the bench once was!"

Sure enough, the book sat on the ground which would have been under the bench. He scrambled over to the area and picked up the book. "I need something to write with," he said suddenly.

Raven flew over to the pile of miscellaneous objects from Mumbo's attack and quickly searched for one.

"Hurry!" he cried to her. "Cy and Robin need help!"

Starfire flew from where Mother May-Eye laid and dived into the pile. Moments later she flew back out. "I have retrieved a pen!"

Beast Boy ran to her and took the pen. He flipped open the book and paused. _Man, I can't write,_ he thought, _What should I put?_

"Give me it!" Starfire cried. She grabbed the pen and book from Beast Boy and without hesitation, she wrote what she needed to while speaking it out loud, "And the magician and the maid were trapped in the—"

"Dungeon!" Beast Boy cried. "Write that...for as long as they lived."

Starfire did so and closed the book as she watched Mumbo and Mother May-Eye rose slowly from the ground. As he flew up, Mumbo swam towards the book and tried to pick it up with his wand. "Open, says me!" he cried and it opened. Mumbo waved his wand once more and it flew out of Starfire's hands. Beast Boy was quick to turn into a hawk to retrieve it. He clutched the book in his beak, but his beak seemed to be too small to carry it, and it dropped somewhere in the rubble. The two fuming villains flew higher and higher, and stopped in mid air over the jump City jail. Even from their distance, the Titans could see their angry faces, and soon they plopped down into the jail.

The Titans cheered and Raven gave a small smile. Robin walked over to Starfire and helped her up. "Nice writing," he said, "I guess that class was kind of handy."

oOo

The fight was definitely over, and for the next few minutes, the Titans were stuck cleaning up the park and explaining to bystanders what happened. They sure had made some mess, and "Do not cross" warnings were everywhere.

"Robin," Starfire started. "What about the people in my class? Who will tell them about 'Miss Angles'?"

"I'll go do that," Robin said. "We have a lot to explain to them anyway...I'll bring Cyborg with me too."

"And I will go check Mother May-Eye's classroom and see if there are any more suspicious villain devices," Starfire told him.

Robin nodded and called Cyborg. After he did, he spoke to all of the Titans. "We'll meet back at the tower," he said to them. Then he looked at Raven. "Are you ok? You're going to have to tell us what happened at the tower."

The other Titans glanced at Raven, worried, as she sighed and looked back at them. She managed a small smile, to assure them that she was okay. "Go ahead," she told them. "We'll be back at the tower soon as well."

Once the three Titans had left, Raven searched around the rubble and in the destroyed area. She didn't know a battle between two such silly villains could make such a mess.

After a good while of searching, she couldn't deny what she didn't want to believe to be true. The book was gone.

The story had become so familiar, and not because she wrote it, but because it was like seeing her life through another person. She was able to smile at Darcy's rare mistakes and hurt Lorenzo without actually hurting the real bane of her existence. She was able to see Darcy and Lorenzo fall in love, right at the tip of her pen, without doing so herself.

That happened to be her favorite part to read.

She leaned against the wall and drew her breath. Not only was the story gone, but it seemed that in the end all of those moments with him meant nothing. It was only the work of Mumbo's meddling book.

Raven exhaled and closed her eyes. She was not going to cry, she wouldn't be able to control that. _I'm not going to cry, I won't cry…_

"Here." She opened her eyes to see Beast Boy handing her the withered book on a solemn note. He was dirty all over and she could tell that he searched for it as well. It could barely even be called a book at that point anymore though. The pages were freshly simmered from the tip of Mumbo's wand, and mud was caked on a good portion of the pages. The first half of the novel was ripped out and nowhere to be seen.

Raven took the book from him, and flipped through what remained of it. She gave it not even a second glance after that. Unemotionally, she tucked it under her cloak, and faced the changeling. "You saved it."

"But I'm sorry I didn't get to save the rest of it," he said, while tugging at his collar. He didn't know what to expect from Raven these days. She yelled at him for some things, and commended him for others. Would he yell at her for being the reason that her hard earned novel was now destroyed?

"It's ok," she murmured, "You tried. It was…my favorite part of the book you found." _The end of the novel was saved_. Not a moment passed when she abruptly pulled him into a tight hug. Without hesitation, Beast Boy embraced her as well.

While slowly doing so, Raven was the first to let go. She didn't look disgusted as she did when she first read the book out loud to him, or chastise him for touching her. She gave a shy smile this time. "We should really go meet back up with the others at the Tower."

"Will do," Beast Boy grinned at her. "Oh yeah…I noticed that I didn't have to say, "Open says, me," that last time I opened the book."

Raven shrugged. "You're probably one of its rightful owner's now then. That's why I never had to say it."

Beast Boy gave a happy look as he thought about the fact of being on owner of the book. _Finally._

He slipped his arm in hers as they started walking back to the tower and Raven didn't seem to take notice to his action.

"Raven?" he asked. "You know how Mumbo said everything that happened in that book would be similar to something to us?"

Raven nodded. "Yes."

"Well, I was…kind of thinking about that scene when Darcy and Lorenzo were about to well…um…kiss. Why didn't that happen to us?"

Raven swallowed. "I might have erased it," she quietly said, and Beast Boy's face fell.

"…or we just haven't gotten to that part yet."

Beast Boy smiled to himself and changed the subject. "We should write our own book one day. You know…one that isn't the work of a villain."

Raven gave a smug smile, not even noticing Beast Boy's action. "Why? It'd probably just get destroyed again."

Beast Boy didn't even try to discourage her negative attitude. Instead, he nodded in agreement. _That's my pessimistic Raven,_ he proudly thought. And he'd have her as no other way.

* * *

**A/N: **This was originally going to be the last chapter, but I realized that there was much more to explain. Before I post the last one on Wednesday, I just want to ask a question…what was your favorite chapter in this fanfic? Please don't say none or all, because I just want to see something.


	18. Flawless

**A/N: **Thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing the whole time I posted this story! It made my writing worthwhile. I was going to post all of your names here in thanks but there are actually too many. Hehe. Now, here is the last (and very short) chapter. :)

**Chapter Eighteen: Flawless**

Although she knew it wouldn't do much, Raven handed the book to Beast Boy as they stepped into the tower. He took the novel in his hands and gave a sheepish smile. "Thanks…but I don't read," he playfully told her.

"Figures," Raven said, and she tucked it underneath her cloak. Beast Boy watched the book disappear underneath and spoke again. "So…why did you want to write a book anyway? I always thought you were the reading type of person." He gave a small laugh, and before he even finished doing so she spoke to him.

"Just wanted to try something new," she murmured. "I've...already read nearly all of the books in the tower. I didn't intend to make Darcy have the same personality as me at first, but after a while I thought she was pretty…cool," she slowly added as Beast Boy gave an eyebrow raise at the way Raven described Darcy. Raven continued, while ignoring him.

"She was a character who could do whatever I wanted...and everything I couldn't do. Besides, if it ever got "published"," Raven added, with a roll of her eyes, "Then no one would probably figure out that I wrote it."

Beast Boy shrugged. "Actually, it was pretty easy for me to figure out! Uh...so while your mouth was all zipped up, Mumbo mentioned you accidentally making Lorenzo like me—"

"I heard," Raven simply said. "And I heard what you said back to him...that was pretty sweet of you."

Beast Boy reddened. "Thanks," he mumbled. "But anyway, he mentioned that and I kinda don't get it. There are a lot of pranksters in the world like Lorenzo, so wouldn't it affect other people like him?"

Raven shook her head. "Well…you _were_ the person I had in mind, so you were the only person affected by the character."

Beast Boy smirked. "Or maybe it only affected me because there's no one else as sweet as me, remember?"

Raven rubbed her temples. "Beast Boy, don't."

"Just when I thought you were warming up to me."

Raven gave a small smile and motioned him to follow her. "Let's go check up on the others."

oOo

"Koriand'r?" Cyborg asked Starfire, while coming from the kitchen into the common room. "We all know it's your real name…but why would Mother May-Eye call you that? We don't even call you that!"

It was evening, and the five Titans were located in the common room, tired, yet satisfied. Robin and Starfire snuggled on the couch, to Raven's disgust, who sat right next to them. Silkie, who seemed to be abandoned for many weeks, slept in Starfire's lap, peacefully. Beast Boy sat cross legged on the ground at her feet while Cyborg stood over them, holding a tray of food from the kitchen.

"She would not succumb to calling me Starfire," the Tameranian answered Cyborg. "She said school was not for silly nicknames." Cyborg nodded and Starfire brought up a new conversation.

"Will they stay trapped in jail forever?" she asked.

"I'm guessing that they can break out if the rest of the book is destroyed or something," Raven told her, along with the others. "But for now, their prisoners for life."

"So what was with the book Raven?" Robin asked. "You don't have to talk about it anymore if you don't want to—"

"It's ok," Raven told him. "I basically bought a bad empty book from the bookstore, thinking I could write a story. Apparently I'm a better reader than writer."

"You can say that again," Cyborg snickered, as Starfire threw a disapproving glance at him. "From the way BB described it, it sounded a little sappy to me," he explained. "I just don't think it was worth missing practice for."

Raven and Beast Boy exchanged glances. They had no idea how much that book meant to them.

"Speaking of missing practice," Robin started, "I hope you all enjoyed your day off, but don't get used to it."

"We won't," Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "But we all get to miss outing night this Friday since we were all gone, right? That's only fair."

Cyborg and Robin smirked at each other. "Actually, we've gotten rid of outing night."

Beast Boy's jumped up from the floor and his eyes widened. "…why?"

"Because we can leave the tower whenever we want," Raven answered him. "I didn't see the point of it in the first place."

Robin slightly frowned at her and continued. "We've also decided that two hours is too long for you all to train."

"We did?" Cyborg mouthed to him, and Robin gave a brief nod.

"So no training every morning?" Beast Boy gleefully asked. Finally, Robin saw it his way.

"No, you're going to train…just not for two hours. And five minutes doesn't cut it. Sorry Beast Boy."

Beast Boy shrugged and sat back down on the ground. He turned on the TV, and it wasn't long until the other Titans became silent as they watched the television, content.

So they weren't the greatest team ever, but they were only teenagers after all. The goal to become "phenomenal" was forgotten by that afternoon, as the Titans had just hung out after a fight just like old times. A team didn't have to be strong to be great in someone's eyes; they could have great just if they were able to get along—no matter how different or disagreeing they were.

After flipping to a good movie—in Beast Boy's eyes of course—he jumped up and onto the couch between the snuggling couple and Raven. Raven and Robin frowned at him, and Starfire giggled. Cyborg shook his head smiling. _Yep, they're perfect just the way they are._

**The End**

**

* * *

A/N:** Ugh. Rereading that part about Robin and Star snuggling on the couch made me sick. XD Just wanted to get that out. Anyway, Cyborg's last thoughts are in response to Robin's feelings in the beginning of the story. He sees the Titans perfect no matter how different they are. Yeah, I know it's a sappy little moralistic ending, but I liked ending it that way. Besides, I'm not usually crazy about morals at the end.

I'm going to tell the meaning of the title, because there is more than one meaning. I choose "Open, Says Me" because it was the secret word for the book (obviously) and Raven made her character Darcy open up whenever she wanted to, which is something she herself can't do.

By the way, not many people told what their favorite chapters were, but it was a tie between 'Freedom!' and 'Discovery'. Thanks again for reading!


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